Shatter Me
by Written-Violinist
Summary: High School AU. Robyn and Chaos have been best friends for a long time. However, when a new student shows up at Chaos High, the two begin to drift apart. Robyn finds herself charmed by the new guy and Chaos discovers feelings he never knew he had. What will happen to the two and their other friends? Plenty of romance, drama, tragedy, suspense, and humor, that's what!
1. Prologue

**Hello darlings! So… okay, yeah, I'm kinda in a rut with "Ruby Eyes" and "ADR" at the moment. I've been reading a lot of high school stories (some of the good ones by ****BeltOfVenus with "Don't Leave Me Hangin' and the sequel "Never Letting Go", gamerprincess13 with "Gray Flame", Punk Rock Kitsune with "Love Has No Boundaries" and the sequel "Love Has No Limitations", Thunder Croft with "Mobian Mean Girls" and the sequel "So This is Love?", and Sonamyluver718 with a variety of stories). Add that to some pleading from my sister to make one, I finally caved and started writing my own high school fanfic. **

**I know there are a lot of them on here, but who cares? There are some really good ones out there (like the ones listed above) and I hope that this one will be among them. Sure, there will be some similarities like the love drama, and then there will be some differences, like the mean girls, the new student, and other details. It'll also have 5 OCs: Robyn, Chaos, Zoey, Alustriel, and Kelly. There will be ****mentions**** of other OCs, like Sapphira and several other OCs from the Ohana, but that's it. I will only be using the five listed above.**

**Obviously, this will be AU from "Ruby Eyes" and "ADR". Different relationships, different ages, different personalities. Please don't give me a hard time about it.**

**Anywho, let's go~!**

_Disclaimer:_ I only own Robyn, Zoey, Alustriel, Kelly, and the plot. Mentions of Sapphira and any other OCs belong to their owners respectively. Chaos belongs to Chaotic hedgehog. Songs belong to their respective artists. This will remain the same for future chapters unless something else comes up.

Prologue

_Hey old friend, thanks for callin'_

_It's good to know somebody cares_

_Yeah she's gone, but I don't feel like talkin'_

_It might be just too much to bear_

_To hear somebody say it stops hurting_

_Or to hear somebody say she ain't worth it…_

_'Cause you don't know her like I do_

_You'll never understand_

_You don't know what we've been through_

_That girl's my best friend_

_And there's no way you're gonna help me_

_She's the only one who can_

_No, you don't know how much I've got to lose_

_You don't know her like I do…_

_I can't forget, I'm drowning in these memories_

_It fills my soul with all the little things_

_And I can't cope, it's like a death inside the family_

_It's like she stole my way to breathe_

_So don't try to tell me I'll stop hurting_

_And don't try to tell me she ain't worth it…_

_'Cause you don't know her like I do_

_You'll never understand_

_You don't know we've been through_

_That girl's my best friend_

_And there's no way you're gonna help me_

_She's the only one who can_

_No, you don't know how much I've got to lose_

_You don't know her like I do…_

_Ohhhhhh…_

_Not like I do…_

_You don't know her like I do_

_You'll never understand_

_You don't know what we've been through_

_That girl's my best friend_

_There's no way you're gonna help me_

_She's the only one who can_

_No, you don't know how much I've got to lose_

_No, you'll never know how much I've got to lose_

_You don't know her like I do…_

_Not like I do…_

_-Brantley Gilbert: You Don't Know Her Like I Do_

This song perfectly describes the relationship between him and I. No one knows me like he does, except maybe for my family. We've been close since we were little kids. He knows that I prefer wearing jeans and t-shirts, and I know about his ability to be a smart-ass. He's willing to put up with my random shenanigans and I'm willing to put up with his slightly player ways. He's like my second brother; I'm like his second sister. I've told him all my dark secrets, and he's been there in my times of need.

Well… up until recently, that is.

**See ya in chapter 1!**


	2. Late

**Now I know what you guys are thinking. "Uh, didn't she already post the 1****st**** chapter to this story…?" Why yes, yes I did. Buuuuuuuuuuuuuut due to stuff happening since the last time I posted the first chapter, I've decided to revamp the story a bit. Chaos the Hedgehog (belonging to my friend and Fanfiction brother Chaotic hedgehog) will be taking the place of the best friend, and the new student is NOT going to be Amy. You guys can probably guess who will take her place… anyway, onward to the chapter!**

Chapter 1

_Splash_.

A loud feminine shriek echoed throughout the room. "**TAILS!**"

A yellow twin-tailed fox started howling with laughter. "I'm sorry Robyn! Zoey told me to take you up; it's almost time for school!"

"SO YOU DECIDED TO DUMP ICE WATER ON ME!?"

Tails sweatdropped. "Oh boy… I'm going to get ready now, bye!"

He quickly left the room. I picked my wet pillow up and tried to fling it at my brother. The lucky little prick managed to shut the door behind him before the pillow hit the door with a squishy "thump". I growled as I rolled onto my side and looked at my clock. 7:30 in the morning, and first period started in half an hour.

Great. Absolutely fantastic.

I slowly sat up and got out of bed. I padded silently over to my huge mirror to get a good look at the damage. I winced as an image of a dark grey fox with half wet, half dry hair and poofy fur stared back at me. My jade eyes looked sleepy and my pajamas- a navy blue tank top with oversized black and white plaid bottoms- were in utter disarray.

I was going to kill my brother for this.

I guess I should introduce myself. I'm Robyn Isabella Prower. I'm a seventeen-year-old grey fox with dark green eyes. I live with my brother, Miles Prower, but he prefers to be called Tails due to the fact that he has two tails. He has yellow fur and bright blue eyes, and he is a genius. He is literally the smartest kid in our school; there is absolutely no doubt that he will be valedictorian when he graduates.

We also live with our two eldest sisters, Zoey Celine Prower and Alustriel Myrlinda Prower. Zoey has red fur with grey highlights in her hair and blue eyes while Alustriel has light blue fur, dark blue hair, and brown eyes. She also has three tails whereas Zoey and I have one. They're both twenty five, they were born just minutes apart. I guess you could say they are considered to be twins, but they don't act anything alike. Zoey is fun, creative, and spunky; she works at a beauty salon and designs clothes in her spare time. Alustriel is very serious and well-reserved; she is also a genius and is a part-time inventor/mechanic. She has another job, but she won't tell us what it is.

Zoey and Alustriel are, obviously, the ones in charge of Tails and I since we're both under eighteen. Our parents were killed in a brutal car crash over four years ago when they were out one night. There was a drunk driver that hit our parents' car straight on, and then a panicked driver hit them in the side. The crash also took my twin sister Sapphira from me. She was a purple fox with blue eyes and she was two minutes younger than me. She died on impact, as did Mom. Dad lasted at the hospital for twelve hours after the crash.

The whole incident was a traumatizing experience for us. Tails and I were almost thrown into foster care permanently. Zoey and Alustriel had to spend months filling out paperwork and proving that they were capable of taking care of us. Once we were together again we had to come up with money to pay off the bills that piled up when Mom and Dad died, or be forced onto the streets. Alustriel had to work overtime at her job; we barely saw her for weeks. Luckily Zoey was hired by the beauty salon so Alustriel could still spend some time with us, and I started babysitting some of the neighbor's kids.

The only good thing was that we had the support of our friends. My girlfriends were a huge help during the struggle. Blaze the Cat and Rouge the Bat, whom I've known since I was three, did everything they could to make sure that I kept up with my school work and all of the school events. I also had the help of Shade the Echidna, Cream the Rabbit, Cosmo the Seedrian, and Kelly the Echidna. Tails had his own friends, but we all hung out together since we were pretty close in age.

However, there was one person who really stuck up for Tails and I. Tails met him when he was four and I had just turned five. He was actually one of our neighbors; he lived across the street from us. He saved my brother from being viciously bullied and Tails completely idolized him after that. Our family loved him, and his family loved us. He could be sweet and charming, but he was also cocky and stubborn. To this day, he still drove me nuts.

His name?

Chaos the Hedgehog.

Chaos and Tails had a really close brotherly bond. Chaos treated Tails like he was a normal fox and did everything with him: video games, sports, heck, even homework! Of course Tails was usually the tutor, but still. Chaos was also the one that Tails could go to for guy advice, seeing as my poor brother was living with three females!

Tails was probably Chaos' favorite out of the Prower household, but Chaos also had a very close relationship with me. Somehow we just clicked. I spent a good majority of my time with Chaos playing video games or having eating contests or racing down to the park or just chilling out. It was pretty easy to say that I wasn't a typical girl. Don't get me wrong, I loved my girlfriends and doing girly things with them, but I preferred the ways of a tomboy.

Anyway, enough about me. Back to that eventful morning…

"TAILS I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" I screamed.

Not two seconds passed before Zoey opened my door and poked her head in. "Why are you screaming bloody mur- WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOUR FUR?!"

"Tails dumped water on me to wake me up! How am I supposed to fix this and be at school in less than thirty minutes?!" I freaked.

My red-furred sister came into my room and shut the door behind her. She forced me to sit in front of my mirror while she pulled a box of things out from my closet. First she brushed my hair out, then she turned on my hair dryer and ran the heat through my hair. Once my hair was dry, she straightened it and brushed it out again. She grinned triumphantly when she was finished as she took a couple of steps back.

"I love you, Zoe!" I exclaimed.

"I know. Now get dressed, Chaos will be here in a minute to take you and Tails to school," she said as she gave me ten dollars for lunch.

I hugged her and then shooed her out of my room. I went to my closet and picked out my outfit for the day: dark wash jean shorts, a plain black v-neck shirt,, and black converse with neon green socks. I put two golden bangles on my left wrist, two sapphire studs in my left ear, and a red infinity ring on my right ring finger. Then I pulled out the one piece of jewelry that I wore every single day: a golden necklace with the letter "S" dangling off of it. It originally belonged to Sapphira, but Dad gave it to me before he died. I only took it off if I was going to be in any body of water or if I was sleeping.

A knock sounded at my door. "ROBYN! HURRY THE HELL UP!"

I rolled my eyes. "COOL IT HEDGEHOG! I need my phone and my bag."

"Is it safe to enter?"

"I suppose."

The door opened and a red hedgehog with black streaks on his arms and legs and with light blue eyes entered. He was wearing black basketball shorts, a grey t-shirt that had the Nike logo on it, and black sneakers. A white wristband was on his right wrist with the date "8-17-2000" on it. I knew that because I gave him the wristband. August seventeenth, 2000, was the day we met.

"Are you ready yet?" he asked impatiently.

I grabbed my purple messenger bag, my phone, and my brown sunglasses with fake diamonds on the rims. "Yes."

"Good. We've got fifteen minutes, let's go," he said as he grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the room.

"BYE ZOEY! I LOVE YA!" I yelled down the hall.

"LOVE YA TOO!" she called back.

We went downstairs and headed outside to Chaos' car. Tails was already sitting shotgun with his backpack on his lap, meaning that I had to sit in the back. I didn't mind too much, this meant that I could take a brief nap. Chaos seemed to have other ideas however, because he pulled a vanilla Starbucks frappucino out of his trunk and handed it to me.

"Tails told me what happened, so I figured that you'd need it," he smiled sweetly.

I uncapped it and took a long, satisfying drink. "Thanks, Speedy."

He went around and swung himself into the driver's seat while I climbed into the back. The seconds that all seatbelts were on, he pulled out of the driveway and took off down the street. Tails yelped as he was forcibly pushed against his seat and I tried to keep a good hold on my drink, which was still uncapped.

"CHAOS! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL US?!" Tails and I yelled.

We were answered by his howls of laughter.

**-XxXxX-**

"Seriously, Chaos… how the hell did you earn your license?" I groaned as I stumbled out of the car.

He smirked and ruffled my hair. I glared at him before glancing at my brother, who looked a little pale. He opened his backpack and took a plastic bag out that had some green apple slices in it. I shook my head and looked around for the others as we walked through the front doors of Chaos High.

"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY ROBYN!"

"Silver!" I grinned.

He was a whitish-grey hedgehog with amber eyes. His quills stuck up everywhere, almost like the shape of weed (harsh but true). He was wearing a white sweatshirt with the sleeves torn off, black cargo shorts, and dirty white high tops. Silver was really weird and acted very flamboyant, but I loved him anyway. He and Zoey were close, but Blaze was his number one best friend. They hung out all the time and their bond was special. We always teased them about being a couple, but they always brushed it off.

"Gurrrrrrrrl, you so fab," Silver said in a girly voice as he gave my outfit a brief inspection.

I wiggled my fingers at him. "You know it!"

Chaos rolled his eyes. Silver noticed and immediately put his arm around the red hedgehog. "Don't worry Chaos, you'll always be my number one baby."

I exploded into laughter while Tails shook his head. Chaos glared at Silver before pushing his arm off. "I ain't no baby."

"Yeah, yeah, that's not what you said last night," Silver replied nonchalantly.

I found myself on the floor dying of laughter. I clutched my stomach and felt several tears slide down my face. Chaos probably would've strangled Silver if a familiar voice hadn't intervened. "Hey guys! What's so funny?"

"ROUGE!" I yelled happily as I jumped to my feet and hugged her.

She almost stumbled backwards but managed to hug me back. "Hey Robyn!"

"Rouge, my lovely! It's been far too long!" Silver proclaimed as he put a hand to his forehead in a dramatic fashion.

My friend's aquamarine eyes looked at Silver suspiciously. "What the hell are you high on now, Pothead?"

Silver looked offended. "Just because my quills are styled this way-"

"Guys, we have two minutes before the bell rings!" Tails interrupted.

The rest of us looked at the giant clock by the main office. 7:58am. We all yelped and split off in different directions: Rouge and Silver down one hallway, Tails down another, and Chaos and I down the third hallway. We had the same first period and our lockers were diagonal from each other.

"Okay, hold on tight!" he yelled as he suddenly scooped me up bridal-style.

I shrieked as he sped off. Did I mention that he could move really fast? He and my friend Shadow (who also happens to be Chaos' brother) both could. It's a little nerve-wracking at first, but you get used to it eventually. It was very useful in times like these, except my stomach kinda hurt from laughing so hard so I had to bury my face in his chest to avoid being sick.

He set me down at my locker and kept a hand on my shoulder as I leaned against the cold metal. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'll live," I breathed as I closed my eyes.

He knelt down to get into his locker and got his stuff out for study hall while I took a few seconds to compose myself. Then I stepped back so I could get into my locker. I pulled out some homework that I didn't finish over the weekend (because I forgot it) and shut my locker…

… just in time for the bell to ring.

Chaos cursed under his breath as he took my hand. "Come on."

We ran down the hallway and made it into the room just as our teacher, Mr. Turner, came to shut the door. "How nice of you to join us, Mr. Hedgehog. Miss Prower."

"We're sorry, sir. It won't happen again," we said in unison.

He looked at us somewhat sternly but smiled a little. "Good. Make sure it doesn't."

We took a brief seat as he shut the door and walked to the center of the room. "All right, you know the drill. Keep the noise down to a minimum and try to be productive today."

He looked at a green hedgehog with ice blue eyes expectantly. "That includes you, Scourge."

"Yeah, yeah," the hedgehog replied as he leaned back in his seat.

I rolled my eyes and leaned over towards Chaos. "We all know he won't."

Chaos nodded. Mr. Turner waved his hand dismissively and everyone began to move around. Chaos stepped away to talk to our friend Knuckles, a red echidna with violet eyes. My eyes scanned the room for another friend. It took me a minute to find him, but I grinned once I did. Very carefully, I snuck over to him. Once I was behind him, I threw my hands over his eyes.

He sighed. "Robyn, I know it's you."

"Good morning to you too, Shadow," I responded as I sat down next to him.

Shadow the Hedgehog looked at me with his ruby red eyes gleaming. "You're the only one who dares to touch me aside from Zoey and Rouge, and neither of them are here."

I shrugged. Sometimes I wondered how I managed to become friends with this guy. He was very quiet and preferred to be alone. People were mostly scared of him; he looked like a bad boy who could mess someone up. Even I used to think that back in elementary school, until Zoey was hired to babysit him and I got to know him better. It took the others a while, but they eventually accepted him. It probably took a bunch of nagging from Chaos to make that happen.

"So… how's Maria?" I asked after a moment of silence.

He bit his lip. "Better than she has been. She finally got to spend a whole weekend at home. She hasn't been getting much sleep though."

"Aw. Well, tell her that I'll bring her some cookies soon, okay?"

"She'll appreciate it. Thanks, Robyn."

Maria was Shadow and Chaos' sister. She was a year older than me and she used to tutor me back in middle school. She had been recently diagnosed with leukemia and she had been in and out of the hospital for months. Shadow and Chaos had been very distraught by it; they loved Maria more than anything. They basically had the same bond that Tails and I did: super close siblings.

Shadow pulled out his iPod and handed one earbud to me. "Want to work on the English homework?"

I nodded as I stuck the earbud in my ear and pulled the homework out of my bag. We sat there quietly for at least half the period, finishing the homework and only speaking if we had questions. We circled through artists like Avril Lavigne, Green Day, All-American Rejects, and Bruce Dickinson. I wasn't too picky about music; I had a wide genre on my own iPod (which had suffered a nasty fall and was being repaired by Alustriel). Music was a mutual love for Shadow and I. It was the main reason why we became friends in the first place.

Just as we were finishing the last question, Chaos came over to our table and slammed his hands against the table. I yelped and jumped out of my seat while Shadow continued to write like nothing had happened. Behind Chaos, Knuckles started laughing.

"Jeez, Robyn! You're such a jittery fox!"

I glared at him. "I am not! I was just absorbed in my work."

Then I turned on Chaos. "And you, what the hell was that about?!"

"No particular reason! I got bored and saw you all the way over here with Shads, looking so focused like a good girl. The opportunity was too good to pass up," he grinned.

I sighed and plopped back down in my seat. Shadow finished his sentence before turning a steely eye on Chaos. "Don't call me Shads."

Chaos waved a hand dismissively and turned back to me. "So, I wanted to ask you if you and Tails wanted to come over for dinner. Maria is making chicken curry."

I instantly brightened. "Of course! I love Maria's cooking."

"Good! I would've made you come either way," he smirked.

Knuckles coughed suggestively. "That's… what she said."

I felt my face turn bright red. I looked at Chaos again to see his face was covered by his hands. He sighed irritably. "Shut up, Knucklehead."

Shadow smirked as Knuckles looked ready to kill Chaos. I slowly put my hand to my face. Why did I hang out with these guys again?

"Don't worry your pretty head, Robyn. You know how he is," Chaos said as he pried my hand away from my face.

I couldn't help but smile. "Yeah. I know."

He grinned and ruffled my hair. I smacked his hand away and saw Knuckles smirking. Shadow, on the other hand, looked a little… irritated? I mentally shrugged as I put my English homework away. We were good friends, yes, but there were still times where I couldn't figure him out.

"So, Robyn, did you finish the precalc homework?" Chaos asked.

"Uh, yes. It was actually easy for once," I answered.

He looked at me knowingly. Seeing that look, I immediately knew what was up. "You didn't do it."

"Nope. Can I borrow yours for the answers?" he asked.

I sighed. "Fine, but this is the LAST time I let you do this…"

**-XxXxX-**

The next three periods passed fairly quickly (History, French, and Precalculus, if anyone was interested). Fifth period was finally here, which meant lunch time!

"Thank Chaos for lunch. I'm starving!" I complained to Chaos as we walked to our lockers.

"You're welcome. And if you hadn't woken up laaaaaate…" Chaos said pointedly.

"Not my fault," I muttered.

I grabbed my wallet from my locker and put everything else away. Chaos grabbed his keys and his wallet before offering me his hand. Seniors were allowed to leave the school for lunch as long as the restaurant was close by. We also had an hour-long lunch, so that was an added bonus.

"The Diner sound good?" he asked.

I nodded. It was an old-fashioned place with the most original food around. Their shakes were to die for, and Chaos was obsessed with their chilidogs. Chaos and I actually met up there quite a bit if we had the late-night munchies.

"I'll text the others," I said as I pulled my phone out.

He nodded in response and went silent as I texted the others.

**Robyn: Hey! Chaos and I are going to The Diner for lunch. Anyone in?**

**Blaze: Definitely! I missed you this morning.**

**Cosmo: Yeah, where were you?**

**Kelly: DID YOU GET WHISKED AWAY BY A MADMAN IN A BLUE BOX?!**

**Robyn: Missed you too, Blaze! Ugh, Kels, I wish! Nah, I woke up late and my brother decided to dump water on me -_-**

**Shade: I bet that was a lovely surprise.**

**Tails: Haha, I love you sis! :D**

**Shadow: Will you idiots stop blowing up my phone?! I'm trying to drive!**

**Cream: Shadow, you dummy, don't text and drive!**

**Silver: I guess this means I'll see y'alls bickering selves in five minutes?**

**Rouge: Not me, I have to talk to a teacher.**

I looked up to see that we had managed to walk out to the school parking lot. Chaos had placed his hands on my shoulders and had been navigating me for the past few minutes! My cheeks heated up a little as I eased myself out of Chaos's hold.

"Welcome back to Mobius," Chaos smirked.

I rolled my eyes. "Ass."

"Love you too," he laughed.

For some reason, my cheeks felt even warmer when he said that. I shook my head as I glanced at my phone again.

**Knuckles: I have to meet with Coach, count me out.**

**Shade: I have a club meeting.**

**Blaze: Cosmo and Kelly are with me.**

**Cream: I'll be there in a little bit, gotta call my mom.**

**Tails: I'll be there!**

**Robyn: Cool. Laterz!**

"By the sounds of it… Blaze, Cosmo, Kelly, Tails, Silver, and Shadow will join us. Oh, and Cream will join us in a little bit," I informed Chaos.

"AWESOME!" he shouted as he tossed his keys in the air.

I chuckled as he managed to drop his keys. "Smooth."

"Like butter?" he asked, eyes gleaming.

"Shut up, all I need is the butter. GET ME THE BUTTAH!" I exclaimed.

Chaos started laughing his ass off. "This is why I love you. You manage to make me laugh."

"But so does everyone else," I pointed out.

"Eh, true. Let's go!"

"SHOTGUN!"

"You're the only one riding with me, genius!"

"I KNOW!"

Chaos was cracking up as he climbed into the driver's seat. I climbed into the passenger's seat, feeling pretty accomplished. My red friend was still laughing when we managed to pull out of the school parking lot. I reached for the radio dial and turned it up in time to hear the commercials come on. I flipped through several stations before giving up and turning the radio off.

"So… how's life?" Chaos asked after a few seconds.

"Life is… good, I guess. Aside from missing half my family," I replied softly.

He bit his lip. "I miss them too, Robyn. Your parents were like a second set of parents to me, and Sapphira…"

Chaos used to have a thing for Sapphira, back when they were younger. She was bold and adventurous, a true tomboy. Chaos thought it was pretty amazing and tried to get her to go out with him. She turned him down every time because she had a crush on… I couldn't even remember who. Some popular dude back in middle school. Anyway, Chaos eventually gave up on his crush right before Sapphira died. I always knew that it bothered him sometimes, but he acted like he was just fine.

We went quiet for a few minutes as Chaos drove along. When The Diner came into view I did a little happy dance in my seat. My chocolate peanut butter shake was calling my name!

"Chocolate peanut butter?" Chaos asked with a knowing smirk.

"Chocolate peanut butter," I affirmed with a grin.

He shook his head as he parked. "You're something else."

"Look who's talking," I retorted as I got out of the car.

He rolled his eyes at me as he locked the car. Impatiently, I grabbed his hand and dragged him into the establishment. I looked around and grinned when I saw a table occupied by several familiar faces.

"ROBYN!" Kelly shouted as she jumped out of her seat and ran over to throw her arms around me.

"KELLY!" I shouted back as I returned her hug.

Kelly was a light blue echidna with light blue eyes. She was Knuckles' cousin who moved in with him and his older sister Tikal when her parents died. They and her brother Daniel all died due to a car crush, similar to how my parents and Sapphira died. The difference was that Kelly's parents were forced off a bridge into a local river named Crystalline River **(A/N: If anyone gets the reference to the name, I will love you forever).** We became close because I could relate to her grief. She had been like a little sister to me since the day we met.

"Did Tails seriously get you wet this morning?" Kelly asked as she stepped back.

"Yeah. Thank Chaos for Zoey, otherwise I would've looked like crap today," I said as I shot a glare at my brother, who had been sitting next to Kelly before she got up.

He grinned innocently at me. Smug little… whatever. I looked back at Kelly, who had been hugged by Chaos, and raised my eyebrows. "… I think someone is a little attention-needy."

He stuck his tongue out at me. Kelly laughed and hugged him back. "Hi to you too, Chaos."

The hedgehog took a step back, satisfied. Then he looked at me and gave me a little smile. "Honestly, you never look like crap no matter what you look like. So quit spouting nonsense."

I blushed a little. Kelly grinned. "Awwww~!"

"Come on guys, we have to order ASAP!" a beige bunny called from the table.

"Sorry Cream!" I replied quickly as I sat down.

Chaos sat next to me while Kelly took her original seat. A lavender cat wearing white capris, a dark purple top, and red converse glanced at me and grinned. "Nice outfit."

"Thanks Blaze! Wait, why didn't I see you third period?" I asked.

"I had to make up a test," she replied.

I shrugged and turned to Cream, who was dressed in a dark grey tank top and a pair of neon pink skinny jeans. Her favorite pair of black sneakers with rainbow laces adorned her feet. "I thought you were going to be late?"

"Mom didn't pick up," she told me as she flicked through the menu.

I nodded and then focused on the last girl present: a green seedrian with dark blue eyes wearing a silver dress with flowers all over it and purple flats. "Hey Cosmo."

She nodded shyly. "Hi."

"Your dress is pretty! Where did you get it?" I asked.

"Oh, Galaxina got it for me when she was in Spain. She had it custom-made," she answered with a smile.

"That's so cool! Wish I had one!" Kelly gushed.

The girls began discussing Cosmo's dress. I turned to Chaos, Shadow, Silver, and Tails. More specifically, my brother. I casually put him in a headlock and ruffled his bangs before leaning in close.

"When are you gonna ask her out?" I whispered.

His eyes widened as he squirmed. "C'mon, big sis! Don't bring this up now!"

"I'm not letting you go until you tell me."

"Why do you wanna know so badly?!"

"Because it's my job as your older sister. Plus she's one of my good friends."

Silver chuckled. "Revenge for this morning?"

"Maybe," I responded with a cheeky grin.

Tails rolled his eyes as he pried my arm off of him. "I'll ask her when I'm ready."

"Buddy, you'll never be ready if you keep avoiding it. You've had a crush on her for a year and a half now!" Chaos said as he leaned forward.

Tails shifted uncomfortably. "I… I know… I just… what if she turns me down?"

I looked at Shadow and Silver with a "WTF" expression. Chaos facepalmed. "It's so obvious she likes you. She gets flustered around you!"

Tails groaned and put his head down. Kelly immediately noticed and frowned. "Hey Tails? You okay?"

"Yeah, fine. Just being bothered over here," Tails replied, muffled.

Kelly gave us a Look. "Why are you bothering him?"

"Hey, leave me and Shadow out of this!" Silver exclaimed. "We've only been listening."

Shadow rolled his eyes. Chaos, however, grinned. "No reason, Kels."

The blue echidna opened her mouth, but our waiter arrived at that moment.

**-XxXxX-**

Once lunch had passed, I had Creative Writing with Chaos, Blaze, and Kelly. Our teacher was Mr. Turner again. His original position was an English teacher, but he also covered first period study hall since the original teacher left. He was probably my favorite teacher, so having him twice in one day was a good thing.

The bell rang as Chaos and I slid into our seats. Mr. Turner shook his head at us and cleared his throat. "Class, I have some news. We're going to have a new student join us today. He should be here any minute, and I want you to make him feel welcome."

A new student? I raised my eyebrows at Blaze and Kelly. Kelly grinned excitedly. "This should be awesome!"

"I wonder what he's like?" Blaze questioned.

Mr. Turner gave us a Look and we immediately shut up. He cleared his throat again and tapped his fingers against the board. "I trust that you all have your homework assignment from last night ready to go?"

In perfect harmony, everyone in the room raised their homework in the air. Mr. Turner beamed. "Good. Would anyone like to volunteer to share? Otherwise I'll pick."

Silence. We all looked at each other before looking back at our teacher. His eyes scanned the room before landing on me. "Miss Prower?"

"Um… sure," I replied as I leaned forward in my seat.

Before I could start, however, the door slowly opened and a voice sounded from right outside. "Mr. Turner?"

**5,053 words after editing.**

**Still the longest. Chapter. Ever.**

**Chapter 2 is once again a work in progress due to the changes, but it should be up fairly soon. See y'all later!**


	3. The New Student

_**Added disclaimer: Braelyn Hallowcloak belongs to me.**_

Chapter 2

"You must be bringing the new student then, Miss Acorn?" Mr. Turner asked as he turned to face the door.

A female squirrel with silky red hair and blue eyes stepped into the room. She was wearing blue jean capris, a dark green tank top, black converse, and a big smile. "Yes, sir. This is Sonic the Hedgehog, from Knothole High."

She stepped to the side to let the new student in. He turned out to be a blue hedgehog with light green eyes. He was wearing a Knothole High sweatshirt, jeans that nearly blended in with his quills, and red shoes with a white stripe on them and a gold buckle. He had a black backpack on his back and a couple of textbooks tucked under his arm.

He had amazing eyes, too. They were light green, the opposite shade of mine. They shined with a sort of nervousness, but there was a hint of confidence too. I smiled when his eyes met mine, and he seemed to relax. I heard several girls around the room whispering about how cute he was and I kinda wanted to roll my eyes.

Mr. Turner walked over and extended his hand. "Mr. Hedgehog, we're glad to have you here. I'm Mr. Turner."

"I'm glad to be here," Sonic the Hedgehog replied.

I had to admit, his voice was soothing. Several of the girls swooned. Blaze and Kelly rolled their eyes. Sonic looked in our direction again and smiled softly. "I see an empty seat over there. Should I…?"

"Yes, of course... then if you don't mind, you can introduce yourself to us and we'll do the same for you," Mr. Turner said.

Sonic nodded and made his way towards us. The empty seat was on the other side of me. He sat down, placing his backpack on the floor next to him and his textbooks on the desk. "So I'm starting…?"

Mr. Turner nodded. The blue hedgehog smiled and clasped his hands together. "Okay. Well, I'm Sonic the Hedgehog. I'm almost eighteen. I transferred from Knothole High, and I live with my mom. I have two siblings in their third year of college. I love running, and I hope to be a physical education teacher someday. Either that or just a runner for marathons."

Mr. Turner smiled and looked at Kelly. The blue echidna smiled. "Hey, I'm Kelly. I was once the new girl, so I know it can be a little nerve-wracking. But I know you're gonna love it here."

"Thank you," Sonic beamed.

Blaze leaned forward. "Hi. I'm Blaze. I love writing, but reading will always be my passion. I believe I also have fourth period with you."

"AP Chemistry? Yep," Sonic replied.

Whoa. Smart guy. I smiled at him. "I'm Robyn Prower. I want to be a writer, and if you have AP Chemistry fourth period, then my brother is in your class."

"Prower…? Oh! So Tails is your brother? He's so smart!" Sonic exclaimed.

I nodded and felt a wave of pride wash over me. "He always has been, especially with Math and Science."

As the rest of the class introduced themselves, I happened to glance at Chaos. His eyes were completely focused on Sonic; a frown crossed his features as he studied the new kid. I waved my hand near his face and tapped his shoulder, but it was like I was invisible. I frowned as a strange feeling seemed to settle in my stomach.

Kelly nudged me. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Fine," I muttered as I got up to grab the bathroom pass.

I left the room quickly to avoid the scrutinizing gazes of my classmates and my teacher. My converse made little noise against the tile floor as I made my way to the bathroom. Once I got in there, I went over to the sink and stared at my reflection. I looked a little pale, but other than that I appeared to be fine.

I shrugged and lightly slapped my cheeks to regain some color. At that moment, Sally walked into the bathroom. "Oh hey, Robyn."

"What's happening, Sal?" I asked as I gave her a brofist.

"Nothing. I'm more concerned about you," she said as she examined me.

I blinked. "What? I'm fine."

"I saw you leave Mr. T's room pretty quickly. You seemed bothered."

"… Oh."

She put a gentle hand on my arm. "Is it Chaos?"

"What would make you say that?" I asked.

"Come on, Robyn. You're his best friend. Then a new kid shows up and he's focused on him. I saw the look on his face when Sonic went into your classroom," the squirrel said.

I scoffed. "That's ridiculous, Sally. He's been in the class for about five minutes. Chaos is probably just trying to figure him out. And for the _billionth_ time, I don't have feelings for Chaos!"

She laughed. "If you say so. See ya in two periods… which he also has with us. And Chaos."

I raised an eyebrow. "How do you know this?"

"Counselor's daughter. Duh," she said as she wiggled her fingers at me.

I rolled my eyes as she left. That wasn't the first time she had hinted at me having feelings for Chaos. See, Sally Acorn had known me and Chaos for a few years. She and my red friend briefly dated before they mutually decided that it wasn't working out… at least, that's the story that they stuck to. I always thought the real reason was because Sapphira died two months into their relationship and Chaos started focusing more on saving my family from being torn apart. He couldn't handle a relationship and being a hero at the same time. Luckily Sally had been very understanding about his reasons and didn't make a fuss when they broke up. But ever since then, she had always thought that Chaos and I had secret feelings for each other. Which was totally absurd; Chaos and I were just best friends.

Remembering that seemed to chase away the weird feeling in my stomach, so I returned to class. To my delight, Chaos' gaze caught mine as I entered the room. He looked a little worried, but that gave way to relief when I grinned at him. Blaze and Kelly both nudged me as I sat down, and I waved my hands at both of them. Sonic shot a small smile at me, which really surprised me. I didn't have a chance to think on it because Mr. Turner clapped his hands together.

"All right, now that we're all settled… Miss Prower, if you would?" he asked.

I nodded and looked down at my assignment. Memories and old feelings washed over me as I began reading…

"_People spoke of her with hushed tones, but there was no denying the awe in their voices. She was beautiful in every way, but she was also a complete tomboy. I spent my childhood watching her play with the guys, no matter what the game. My favorite memory was when she issued a dirt challenge to see who could get muddy faster. The boys in our neighborhood were complete idiots and thought that it would be no problem…"_

I glanced up when I heard Chaos snort. He remembered this incident very well. I shot him a Look to shut him up before I continued…

"_My brother was one of the boys who participated. However, he knew what advantage she held. He kept quiet about it, though- he wanted to see their humiliation as much as she did. Why, well, that's a story for another day…"_

Mr. Turner nodded thoughtfully. "Good start, Miss Prower. Would anyone like to guess as to who she is talking about?"

He gave Chaos a Look. "No giving it away, Mr. Hedgehog."

Chaos gave Mr. Turner the old gesture of locking his lips up and throwing away the key. I glanced around at my classmates. I was pretty sure most of them knew who I was talking about; Sapphira's death had been all over the news for at least a month. Sonic was the only person who I was sure didn't know the connection.

I was surprised when he raised his hand. "If I may?"

Mr. Turner gestured for her to go on. The blue hedgehog turned to me. "Your tone and choice of words suggest that this person is someone close to you. You know her like the back of your hand… a sister?"

I nodded. "My twin sister who was killed a few years ago in a car crash."

His eyes widened. "I remember hearing about that… weren't your parents in the accident too?"

I glanced away. "Yeah…"

Chaos reached over and patted my shoulder reassuringly. I smiled slightly at him before catching Mr. Turner's curious gaze. He cleared his throat. "Yes. The Prowers were great members of the community. Their deaths hit many people."

"The suspect was never caught, was he?" Sonic asked.

I shook my head and felt my hands clench into fists. "No… he wasn't. He's still out there somewhere, living and breathing, while my parents and sister are six feet under and my family is just now getting things under control…"

I felt a couple tears come to my eyes. I stubbornly blinked them away and stared down at my assignment. Chaos' hand never left my shoulder; I felt him grip my shoulder slightly when I expressed my anger. Kelly also reached over to place her hand on top of mine. Their kind gestures brought a small smile back to my face. I had amazing friends.

Mr. Turner opened his mouth, but the bell rang and cut off whatever he was originally going to say. Everyone began gathering their things together and leaving the room. I threw my bag over my shoulder and waved goodbye to Blaze and Kelly. Then I turned to Chaos and was surprised to find Sonic standing next to him. He looked at me and smiled apologetically.

"I'm sorry if I brought up past grief, Robyn. I know how it feels to lose a family member," he said.

I blinked. "Oh…?"

"I lost my dad when I was eight years old. He was fighting for our country," the blue hedgehog explained.

"Oh… I'm so sorry," I said as I shifted my weight from one foot to the other.

"But to lose all three at the same time…? Where are you and Tails staying now?" Sonic asked.

"We're still living at home. We have our two older sisters taking care of us… and we have Chaos' family right across the street," I said as I gestured to my red friend.

He smiled and placed an arm around me. "I've known Robyn and her family since I was a kid, so I shared their grief."

Sonic clutched his textbooks close to his body. "You two are really close, then? Are you two…"

"No, we're not dating," we answered in unison.

He looked at me and smirked. "Jinx, you owe me a chilidog."

"The jinx machine is out of order; kiss my ass and save a quarter," I replied as I snapped my fingers.

Chaos' mouth dropped open. Sonic laughed. "You two are hilarious! Oh, do you know where I can find study hall?"

"Down the hall, actually. The big room on the left," Chaos replied.

Sonic smiled. "Thanks. It was nice meeting you guys."

"We'll see you in two periods, Sonic. Sally said you have the same class as us," I said.

"Oh, okay. See you guys then," the blue hedgehog said before he gave us a wave and walked off.

Chaos watched him go, his eyes glazing over. I stared at him for a few seconds before hitting his arm. "Oy! We have to get to orchestra."

He blinked and shook his head. "Okay, okay…"

**-XxXxX-**

When we got to the orchestra room, someone threw their hands over my eyes. I stopped and shook my head. "Is it the pizza man?"

A chuckle sounded in my ear. "A little late for pizza, don'tcha think?"

I grinned and turned around to hug the person. "Hey Amy."

A pink hedgehog with dark green eyes wearing a purple dress and black flats grinned at me. "Hey Robyn."

"I have a question for you. How the heck is Shadow not startled by ANYTHING?" I asked as we took our seats.

Amy shrugged as she dropped his backpack on the floor. "He's my best friend and I STILL don't know the answer to that one."

I laughed. Chaos then flopped next to me. "Sup, Ames?"

"Hey Chaos," Amy replied.

She leaned forward. "Do you know how Shadow is unaffected by anything?"

Chaos shrugged. "Beats me, and he's my brother."

I wasn't too surprised by his answer. Chaos and Shadow were indeed brothers- almost twins, with the whole red-and-black colored appearance. There were a few differences between the two, however. Chaos had blue eyes, almost like Maria's, whereas Shadow had crimson eyes. Chaos was more outgoing and fun to be around; he liked making friends and pulling pranks. He also joked that our high school was named after him and not the God of Chao. A lot of girls liked him; hell, even I had liked him during our freshman year. It had been a brief crush. Shadow, on the other hand, preferred solitude and was a very serious, no-nonsense guy. He studied a lot and was almost as smart as my brother. I was pretty sure that he had more fangirls than Chaos because girls found Shadow EXTREMELY attractive.

It was the chest fluff. It was ALWAYS the chest fluff.

Anyway, I loved both of them. They were like the older brothers I never had. I always went to them with any problems I had. Shadow and I often studied together and Chaos always knew how to make me smile (even if he made me mad a few seconds beforehand). They were also very protective of me when it came to boys, which often ended very hilariously.

I glanced around. "Where is Miss Hallowcloak…?"

"She had to step out for half of the period. Important phone call. So we're free to do whatever until she comes back," Amy answered as she dug her phone out of her pocket.

Chaos suddenly grinned and grabbed my hand. "Come here."

"Eep! What?!" I yelped.

Laughing, the red hedgehog dragged me over to the grand piano we have in the room. It's technically Chaos' piano for the year, seeing as he's our pianist. He sat down and ran his fingers over the keys, allowing the notes to echo throughout the room. Everyone stopped their conversations and looked at us. My face grew a little warm upon being stared at, so I sat down next to Chaos. He grinned at me again, though this one was a little more mischievous.

"Let's perform something. I'll play, you sing," he said.

My eyes widened. "Eh?! Why?!"

"Why not? It'll be fun!"

"It's a really random idea, for one thing…"

"Robyn, dear, you know I specialize in really random ideas…"

I started twirling my hair around my finger. "Okay… well… why am I singing? I can just play my violin."

He looked at me silently. My ears twitched as I stared back. "I'm not the singer. Kelly is."

He sighed and held up a finger. "One, she isn't here."

He held up a second finger, accompanied by a crooked smile. "Kelly is a phenomenal singer, yes, but you still have an amazing voice. So sing."

"Chaaaaaaaaaaoossss," I whined as my face turned red again.

He smirked. "I'll make you do it."

"I'd like to see you try," I shot back.

His smirk grew. He leaned in close to my ear and dropped his voice to a whisper. His breath tickled my ear, making it twitch madly. "I'll buy you ice cream~."

My face turned scarlet and my ears flattened against my head. "Fine…"

His smirk changed into a grin. A full-blown toothy grin, one that made my heart flutter. "Awesome. You won't regret it, I know you like this song."

"What is it?" I asked curiously.

He turned back to the piano. "_A Thousand Miles_, by Vanessa Carlton…"

I stared at him. My eyes pricked slightly as I remembered the song. Chaos and I had danced to it at our junior homecoming. He hadn't kept his eyes off of me that entire night. My hormones had been outta whack because he looked _amazing_. Old feelings from freshman year had resurfaced and by the end of the night I had wanted to kiss him.

The next day I blamed sugar and the dance hype. Chaos was my friend, nothing else.

"What made you pick this one?" I asked softly.

He looked at me nervously. "Um… the piano in the song is awesome! Duh."

I giggled. "I'll agree with that."

He smiled. He carefully stretched his fingers… and began playing the opening of the song. Everyone was really paying attention now, especially Amy. She shot me a grin as she yanked out her violin. Her grin said "You two are perfect together". I responded with a roll of my eyes as I slowly stood up and opened my mouth.

_Making my way downtown  
Walking fast  
Faces pass  
And I'm home bound_

I swallowed nervously as the piano kept playing. Chaos glanced at me with a small smile, telling me that I was doing fine.

_Staring blankly ahead  
Just making my way  
Making a way  
Through the crowd_

Amy joined in at this point, pulling her bow across the strings of her violin.

_And I need you  
And I miss you  
And now I wonder..._

_If I could fall_  
_Into the sky_  
_Do you think time_  
_Would pass me by_  
_'Cause you know I'd walk_  
_A thousand miles_  
_If I could_  
_Just see you_  
_Tonight_

Chaos' fingers flew across the piano. His eyes were closed but he was still smiling. I couldn't help but smile as well. It gave me enough confidence to stand up and walk around to the front of the piano.

_It's always times like these  
When I think of you  
And I wonder  
If you ever  
Think of me_

_'Cause everything's so wrong_  
_And I don't belong_  
_Living in your_  
_Precious memory_

Amy walked over to stand by me, still playing her violin.

_'Cause I need you  
And I miss you  
And now I wonder..._

_If I could fall_  
_Into the sky_  
_Do you think time_  
_Would pass me by, oh_  
_'Cause you know I'd walk_  
_A thousand miles_  
_If I could_  
_Just see you_  
_Tonight_

Chaos really got into it at this point. Two of the other violin players also picked up their instruments and joined Amy. I grabbed the nearest chair and stood on top of it, spreading my arms out.

_And I, I  
Don't want to let you know  
I, I  
Drown in your memory  
I, I  
Don't want to let this go  
I, I  
Don't..._

The music was very dramatic as Amy and the other two violinists faded out with me. I glanced back at Chaos, who was grinning as his fingers went back to the keys.

_Making my way downtown  
__Walking fast  
__Faces pass  
__And I'm home bound_

_Staring blankly ahead_  
_Just making my way_  
_Making a way_  
_Through the crowd_

_And I still need you_  
_And I still miss you_  
_And now I wonder..._

The violins faded out again, leaving Chaos and I to be the only ones heard…

_If I could fall_

_Into the sky  
Do you think time  
Would pass us by  
'Cause you know I'd walk  
A thousand miles  
If I could  
Just see you..._

The violins jumped back in. I hopped down off of the chair and threw my hands up in the air dramatically, feeling the music move through my veins.

_If I could fall_  
_Into the sky_  
_Do you think time_  
_Would pass me by_  
_'Cause you know I'd walk_  
_A thousand miles_  
_If I could_  
_Just see you…_

I walked back around the piano to Chaos and sat down next to him, resting my head on his shoulder.

_If I could  
Just hold you…_

I opened my mouth to draw in one last breath…

_Tonight…_

Chaos slowed it down a bit, resting his head next to mine as he finished off the last few notes. The rest of the class started cheering as Amy and the other two violinists bowed. Chaos turned to me and threw his arms around me in a tight embrace. I could feel his lips curve into another smile.

"Thanks, Robyn," he murmured.

I blushed and hugged him back. "Any time…"

A loud "ahem" caught everyone's attention. We all turned to see our teacher standing in the doorway. She shook her head at us. "Not even half the class period and you lot are up to musical wonders."

We grinned. Miss Hallowcloak was probably one of the best teachers around, aside from Mr. Turner. For one thing, she was one of the few human teachers at the school. She had long blonde hair that was slightly curly, eyes the same color as mine, and the sweetest personality. She was beautiful no matter what she wore to school. She was also brilliantly talented when it came to music- she sang and played a variety of instruments. Her main instrument was a beautiful acoustic guitar that her fiancé had custom-made for her. She was the head of the music department at the school and ran many of the music classes. Kelly admired her a LOT and always found a way to engage her in conversations about music.

"Anyway, I apologize about the late start of class. I had to call my fiancé about a doctor's appointment. We'll get started with… oh jeez, where's my list of which songs we're going to do today…?" she murmured as she dug through her bag.

That was the other thing about her. She was kind of scatterbrained and unorganized sometimes. Chaos raised his hand from his piano. "I believe you said that we were going to start with 'Firebird' by Stravinsky today?"

"… Yes! Thank you, Chaos," she smiled as she took her place in front of the rest of us, who had gathered our instruments.

I should probably mention that Chaos, Amy, and I were in the top orchestra at school. We were a smaller group than the lower orchestra, but we made up for our size in our sound. We had four first violins, three second violins, three violas, two cellos, and two bass players, plus Chaos on piano. I don't mean to toot my own horn here, but I was first chair of the first violins and Amy was my stand partner. First chair means that I was the best of my class and I usually got the solos in any piece we played (if there were any). Sometimes I let Amy have a few solos because I thought we were equally talented.

I've been playing violin since I was five years old, and my teacher was none other than my sister Alustriel. People think that I am really good, but I know that my sister is extraordinary. She could take one look at a sheet of music and have it memorized ten minutes later. Her sound makes it feel like there are four of her playing. If I don't become a writer someday, I might just become a famous violinist. I know Sapphira would have loved that- she played cello. We used to put on mini concerts for our friends whenever we got new music. We even joked sometimes that we would grow up to be a famous string duet.

We played through our music as much as we could, given that class had been cut a little short. Before I knew it, there were five minutes left in class and Miss Hallowcloak told us to pack up. Several of my classmates complimented me on my earlier performance with Chaos, which I smiled and thanked them. Amy was grinning again as she listened.

"Seriously, you two are just perfect together. Musically and everything else," she sighed.

I rolled my eyes. "He's my best friend."

"Come on, Robyn. Don't tell me you haven't thought about what it would be like to be his girlfriend," she said as she nudged me playfully.

I opened my mouth to respond but Miss Hallowcloak cut in at that moment. "Robyn, dear, if I could see you for just a quick moment?"

I nodded and waved dismissively at Amy. She shrugged and walked over to Chaos, who was organizing his music. I looked at my teacher and smiled. "Yes, Miss Hallowcloak?"

"I have something I want to ask of you, dear. First, I want you to look at this," she said as she handed me a couple of sheets of paper.

I looked at the papers. They turned out to be sheet music. My eyes widened and my mouth dropped open as I read the title of the song. Then I looked up at my teacher. "… Th… This is… 'Shatter Me', by Lindsey Stirling!"

She grinned. "Yes. I wanted to make this a surprise performance… and your friend Kelly will be singing the song."

If my mouth could open any wider, it did right then. "She is!? That's amazing!"

Miss Hallowcloak chuckled. "She's the perfect candidate. Now, while she's going to be the one singing the song… I want you to play it. I'm giving you the sheet music so you can take it home and have Alustriel teach you how to memorize it."

I nearly shrieked with delight. Instead I threw my arms around her. "Oh my god, yes! Please! Thank you, Miss Hallowcloak!"

She laughed and patted my head. "You're very welcome, Robyn."

**This chapter is… *shrugs* kinda awkward. I cut out a bit of the good stuff since Sonic is the new student instead of Amy, and Chaos is the best friend instead of Sonic. Oh well, things will be back on track next chapter!**


	4. He Almost Broke My Nose

_**werewolf99: **_**Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far. Unfortunately, for this story, I will not be accepting any OCs. The prologue clearly states that I will only be using 5 OCs, and other OCs from my Ohana will be mentioned. Other than that, I will not be using anyone else's OCs. Sorry.**

_**BlackSandHeart:**_** STARYIA DANGIT, DON'T DIE WOMAN! xD  
Kelly: *comes over and pokes you***

**Added disclaimer**_**: Aliana Ravencloud belongs to me.**_

_Chapter 3_

"Miss Hallowcloak gave you the sheet music for 'Shatter Me'?!" Chaos exclaimed.

The two of us plus Amy were walking down the hallway after class. They had demanded to know what Miss Hallowcloak wanted to talk to me about, so I told them. I nodded in response to Chaos and handed him the sheet music. He scanned it closely and started humming the song as he looked through it.

Amy looked at me. "You're so lucky!"

I started hopping up and down excitedly. "I still can't believe it! I've wanted to play this song for ages! Now, not only do I get to play it, but Kelly gets to sing it!"

"Is this happening along with our concert?" Amy asked.

"She made it sound like that was the case," I answered.

Chaos handed the music back to me and gave me a small, crooked smile. "You lucky son of a gun. I'd give anything to play a Lindsey Stirling song. Especially if I had an amazing violinist like yourself playing with me."

I blushed lightly. Amy saw this and emitted a small "Aww~". I gave her a Look before turning back to Chaos. "I'm sure if we asked Miss Hallowcloak, she could get you the sheet music. That or you could probably translate the music yourself."

He shrugged. "Maybe."

Amy smiled. "All right, I'm off to English. See you two later."

"Bye Ames!" we said in unison as we waved to her.

Chaos turned to me and opened his mouth. However, I put a finger to his lips and shushed him. "Don't make me say it again."

His response was to stick his tongue out and lick my finger. I shrieked and wiped my finger off on his arm. He started laughing and ran ahead of me. "See ya in Gym!"

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" I shouted as I ran to catch up with him.

Yes, our last period was Gym. It was all right, I suppose. The coach of the girls' basketball team, Coach Ravencloud, was our gym teacher. She was strict but fair, and she was very good friends with Miss Hallowcloak. She was just as pretty as Miss Hallowcloak, too- she had long brown hair and grey eyes. She and Sally often had conversations about basketball because Sally was on the team. Sometimes Sally could convince her to just let us shoot hoops for the entire period.

I should probably mention my school schedule so that we're all on the same page here, dear reader. It went like this:

_Period 1- Study Hall- Mr. Turner_

_Period 2- AP History- Mr. Bigins_

_Period 3- AP French- Madame Armenta_

_Period 4- Precalc- Mr. Oleary_

_Lunch_

_Period 6- Creative Writing- Mr. Turner_

_Period 7- Orchestra- Miss Hallowcloak_

_Period 8- Gym- Coach Ravencloud_

Anyway, I managed to catch up with Chaos after a moment. He smirked. "Slowpoke."

"Excuse me, Mr. I-Can-Run-As-Fast-As-Shadow," I retorted.

He laughed and grabbed my hand, lacing his fingers with mine. He squeezed my hand affectionately. "I'm sorry I left you behind."

I rolled my eyes at his "You know you love me" tone, but I squeezed his hand anyway. "I suppose I'll forgive you."

"And you two claim you're not dating," a familiar voice said with amusement.

I shot the newcomer a Look. "We had this discussion earlier, Sally."

Chaos' ears twitched and he leaned forward with interest. "Ohh? You did?"

Sally chuckled. "Privately, Chaos."

Chaos made a sad face. I pulled my hand away from his so I could ruffle his quills. "Like you don't have private conversations with my brother about me."

He shrugged. Sally opened her mouth to comment again but a voice cut her off. "Sally! Wait up!"

All three of us turned around. The new guy, Sonic, was jogging up to us. He grinned at us. "Hi again."

"Hey Sonic," I greeted.

Chaos nodded in acknowledgement. Sally smiled. "So Sonic, what do you think of the school so far?"

"It's pretty awesome! The teachers are really cool and everyone has been very nice. Much better than my old school," Sonic answered.

I chuckled. "Well, we'll see what you think about the people after Gym."

He looked at me, confused. "What makes you say that? Gym is my favorite class."

"The class is all right, but most of the people in our period are royal pains in the backside," Chaos responded with a roll of his eyes.

"Surely you're not referring to me, are you, Chaos?" a seductive voice called out behind us.

I gritted my teeth. "Speaking of…"

A reddish-brown fox sauntered over to us, flipping her hair over her shoulders. She was wearing short jean shorts, a blue tank top, blue flip flops, and a ton of jewelry. Her make-up reminded me of a typical model on the cover of a magazine. She had designer shades on her head and a designer purse on her shoulder. She was chewing gum and blew a bubble as she stopped in front of us.

She smiled coldly at me. "Robyn."

"Fiona," I hissed.

"Aw, still hating me? What a shame," she said sarcastically.

Sally narrowed her eyes. "Leave her alone, Fiona."

"Or what, Sally? You'll go crying to your counselor mommy again? We know good and well that she can't do anything to touch me," Fiona taunted.

Chaos growled. "Get lost. We didn't call 1-800-You're-A-Whore."

"Oohhh, ouch. Chaos, I'm hurt," she said as she put a hand to her heart.

Her eyes then landed on Sonic. "The new student? What's your name again?"

"Sonic," the hedgehog responded flatly, avoiding her gaze.

"Sonic… I've heard much about you," Fiona purred.

She ran an elegant nail down the front of his shirt lightly and leaned in close to his face. "I'd be careful who you associate yourself with. Pick the wrong crowd, and it won't end well for you."

"I think I can handle myself, thanks," Sonic said as he took a step away from her.

Fiona shook her head and began to walk away. However, she paused for a second and threw a smirk over her shoulder at me. "By the way, Robyn… do tell your brother hello for me."

Sally's mouth dropped open as Fiona walked away, chuckling. Chaos immediately threw his arms around me, restraining me as I emitted an angry screech. I struggled in his hold. "Let me at her!"

"Robyn, don't. She's not worth it. Besides, if you start a fight with her, you'll be the one who gets in trouble," Sally said.

"I don't care! It'd be my pleasure to start the fight! She knows not to bring my brother into this or I'll break her plastic face in!" I snarled.

Chaos' arms tightened around me. "Robyn. Calm down. Fiona is a downright caudex. She's not worth it."

No matter how much I struggled, Chaos wouldn't let me go. After a moment I slumped against him in defeat. Chaos smiled and loosened his grip so he could give me a hug. "Calm?"

"Yeah," I mumbled.

He turned me around, looking straight into my eyes. "Promise?"

"Promise," I sighed.

He smiled and gave me a quick brotherly peck on my forehead. It was his thing for whatever reason. "Good girl."

"Aww," Sally cooed.

Sonic gazed at both of us. He looked a little conflicted, but it quickly vanished when he smiled. "Shall we?"

I nodded, grateful that he hadn't teased us as well. "Yes."

He chose to walk beside me while Chaos and Sally started talking about something else. "So… if you don't mind me asking, what's the deal with Fiona?"

"Fiona… she's the queen of evil. She'll do anything just to get what she wants. She tears people down and manipulates the higher-ups. And… and…" I trailed off as I clenched my hands into fists.

He looked at me worriedly and placed a hand on my shoulder. I felt a slight jolt travel down my arm, but I dismissed it. "She… she played my brother. She acted like she had changed and wanted to go out with him… and then we found out she had been lying to him, cheating on him, trying to drag his name through the mud…"

I felt my teeth sharpen. "She absolutely shattered his heart… he spent most of his nights crying in my arms and his school work suffered… if it hadn't been for me, Chaos, Cosmo, and our sisters, who knows what would've happened to him?"

I looked straight into Sonic's eyes. "I lost a sibling already, as well as my parents. If I lost Tails, or my other two sisters… I don't know what I would do."

To my surprise, he pulled me into a hug. He was muscular, despite his skinny appearance. His hug felt comforting, almost like Chaos' hugs. I slowly returned his embrace, smiling slightly to myself as he patted my back.

"I know how you feel," he whispered in my ear.

"Are you two finished?" Sally asked.

We immediately pulled away from each other, turning red in the process. I coughed and Sonic scratched his head sheepishly. "Yep."

"Good," Sally said as she began to drag me into the girl's changing room.

Once we were in there, she looked at me. "He likes you."

I blinked. "… What?"

Sally facepalmed. "Sonic. He likes you."

"… … … … … Are you serious, Sal? First Chaos, now Sonic?" I asked with a hint of annoyance.

"I am serious! Every time that I've seen him around you today, he hasn't taken his eyes off of you! And that hug!" she exclaimed.

Now it was my turn to facepalm. "Sal, you need to stop reading those romance novels before bed… and between classes…"

She playfully shoved me. "Whatever."

We quickly got changed into our gym shorts (blue for Sally, black for me), and matching red tank tops with the school mascot on the back. I kept my converse on while Sally changed into a pair of blue sneakers. We walked back out to find Sonic and Chaos had already changed and were talking about something.

Chaos spotted us first and walked over to us, throwing his arms around our shoulders. "Looking good, ladies."

Sally laughed and pushed his arm off of her. I rolled my eyes and poked Chaos in the stomach. "Dork."

He turned his head to look at me. "Did you just poke me?"

"Maybe. Whatchu gonna do 'bout it?" I smirked.

"Oh, I dunno... maybe THIS!" he yelled as he suddenly picked me up and threw me over his shoulder.

I shrieked as I dangled. "CHAOS, PUT ME DOWN!"

"NEVARRR!" he shouted as he started running around the gym with me.

I shrieked again and started hitting his back. "CAUDEX!"

"I LOVE YOU TOO, BAKA!" he yelled as he started going faster.

The rest of our class (except for Fiona and her posse) started laughing. I kept hitting Chaos and yelling at him to put me down while he yelled back responses. Sally was probably laughing the hardest; every time I looked at her she was clutching her sides, grinning, and tears were running down her face. Sonic looked overly amused as well as he gave us a thumbs-up.

"CHAOS! What are you doing?!"

My red friend skidded to a stop, nearly letting me fall forward face-first. His grip tightened around my waist at the last second, thus causing me to hit my face against his leg. Several people snickered as my face turned the same shade as Chaos' quills. I put my hands out in front of me and nudged Chaos with my tail. Very carefully, he slid my legs off of his shoulder. My hands hit the floor and I propelled myself forward into a flip. I stood back up and dusted myself off, and then I punched Chaos' shoulder. He gave me a Look before turning his attention back to the person who had called him out.

"Yes, Coach?" he smiled sweetly.

Coach Aliana Ravencloud stared at him. "What were you doing?"

"Uh… getting warmed up?" Chaos smiled.

"… With Robyn slung over your shoulder like a sack of potatoes?"

"Yep!"

Coach sighed and rubbed her temple. "I'll let it slide today."

She turned to the whole class. "Today is going to be a free-for-all. I have a bit of a headache and some scheduling to fix. Be productive or it is an immediate detention."

With that, she turned on her heel and walked into her office. The door shut behind her with a firm 'click'. Everyone looked at each other and started murmuring amongst themselves. I looked at Chaos and punched his shoulder again. "I hate you."

"Ow. Love you too," he smirked.

Sally wiped her eyes, still chuckling. "That was priceless."

I looked at Sonic. To my surprise, he was already looking at me. He looked extremely amused. "Is this… normal?"

"Chaos and his antics? Yeah," I smiled.

"Yes she does get caught up in them. She loves me," Chaos joked as he put me in a headlock and gave me a noogie.

I squeaked. "Let me go, you caudex!"

He pouted and let me go. Sally facepalmed at both of us. "Anyway… is anyone up for shooting hoops?"

I looked at her and grinned. "Are you ready to lose?"

"You're so on," she laughed as she went to grab a few basketballs from the rack on the wall.

Chaos smirked. "Sonic, you any good at basketball?"

"Uh… kinda, I guess," the blue hedgehog replied.

"Good. We'll have some fun," Chaos said as he rubbed his hands together.

I rolled my eyes, and then jumped when a basketball came sailing towards me. I threw my hands up and barely caught it. I lowered the ball and scowled. "Sally!"

"Sorry!" she laughed as she walked up.

Sonic chuckled and caught the ball she tossed to him. Chaos did the same as we walked to the other side of the gym. Sally started us off, making the shot from the sideline. She picked her ball up before Chaos and I both made our shots from the half court line, and then it was Sonic's turn. Chaos and I quickly grabbed our basketballs and then stood at half court again. Sonic closed his eyes as he stood on the other side of the court. Then he started dribbling the ball before jogging towards where Chaos and I were standing…

… the next thing I knew, he slipped and his hand hit his basketball, causing it to go flying at my face.

I wasn't lucky enough to catch this one. It hit me square in the nose, causing me to cry out and drop my ball. The rest of the class looked over as I put a hand to my nose while Chaos and Sally freaked out. Sonic pushed himself to his feet and immediately ran over to me with wide eyes. "Oh jeez, are you okay Robyn?!"

"I think so… ow, okay, maybe not!" I grimaced as my nose throbbed.

"Your nose is bleeding!" Sally yelped.

I pulled my hand away from my face and looked at it. She was right, my nose WAS bleeding. Chaos immediately put his hand on my shoulder. "I'll take you to the nurse."

"No, I will," Sonic responded as he suddenly scooped me up bridal-style.

Before I could react, he took off. I yelped as everything blurred around me. Then we were in front of the nurse's office and I blinked several times. "Oh my god… you can move at the speed of sound too?!"

He blinked with obvious confusion. "Too?"

"Chaos and his brother Shadow can," I explained.

"Oh. Well… yeah, I can," he said sheepishly.

We stared at each other. Then I realized that he was still holding me and I cleared my throat. "Um… you can put me down now."

He coughed awkwardly and set me down before looking away. "Right…"

**-XxXxX-**

I had to miss the rest of the period so I could try to get my nose to stop spitting out blood. To my surprise, Sonic stayed with me. The nurse gave him the go-ahead to return to gym, but he refused to leave me. I didn't mind too much- he was actually good company to have. After he apologized (about ten times), we sat on the cot and talked. He learned a bit more about my family and my hobbies, and I learned a bit more about him. He lived with his mom and he had two older siblings, a brother and a sister, who were close to Alustriel's and Zoey's age. He loved chilidogs and running more than anything in the world. He played guitar, and he had been playing since he was five years old.

"I wanted to learn guitar when I was little… then I went to one of Alustriel's concerts and she had a really big solo. I was completely blown away and decided that I wanted to be just like her," I smiled.

"She sounds really cool," he chuckled.

"She is! I swear, her brain is a supercomputer. She knows her stuff with electronics, and she's a mechanic," I said proudly.

He whistled. "Damn. I'll have to come to her the next time my laptop decides to explode."

I laughed. "Literally or figuratively?"

"Hopefully not literally. I had that happen to me once because Manic spilled his drink all over my keyboard and the power cord. There were sparks and then my laptop went 'EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE' really loudly and I threw it on the couch before it died," he said.

"Oh my god. Poor laptop!" I giggled.

He smirked. "Manic felt terrible about it… until my mom bought me a brand new laptop."

I kept giggling. "Zoey has broken my iPod several times. I dunno what I'd do without Alustriel."

"You'd probably cry because you wouldn't be able to get your stuff fixed for free," a new voice said in amusement.

Sonic and I both turned our heads. Standing in the doorway, keys in hand and a smirk on her face, was my sister Alustriel. Her waist-length hair was pulled back in a thick bun and her bangs were brushed to the side. She was dressed professionally as usual: black pants, a grey vest over a white button-up shirt, a black trench coat, and black flats. Her trademark sunglasses were resting on top of her head and her laptop bag was slung over her shoulder.

"Nee-chan!" I squealed as I jumped up and ran over to hug her.

She chuckled and returned the hug. "Hey kiddo."

"What are you doing here? I thought you were at work," I said as I pulled back to look at her.

"Chaos texted me and said you were in the nurse's office. I was just about done for the day, so I figured I'd come get you and take you home," she answered as she looked at my face.

I had some kind of fancy band-aid over my nose. Sonic's basketball hadn't done enough damage to break it, but it was horribly bruised and it stung if anyone touched it. The nurse had told me to keep applying ice to it and make sure that I didn't let anything else hit it (Sonic had kinda snickered at that, the buttface). Other than that, I was completely fine.

"I appreciate it, sis," I beamed.

Alustriel smiled and then her brown eyes wandered over to Sonic, who was still sitting down. "I assume this is the culprit?"

The blue hedgehog smiled weakly and stood up. He looked nervous, and I couldn't blame him- Alustriel could be intimidating sometimes. "Sonic the Hedgehog, Miss Alustriel. It was an accident, I swear."

Alustriel raised an eyebrow. She walked towards him and stopped right in front of him, squinting. Sonic started to sweat a little as she walked around him, examining him closely. I made a face- she did this to any new guy friend of mine. Protective older sister duties and all that.

Finally she sighed and patted his head. "I believe you, kid."

Sonic smiled with relief. "Thank you…"

I giggled. "Sorry Sonic. She can be intimidating at first."

"No, really?" Sonic responded as he stuck his tongue out at me.

Alustriel cracked a smile and turned back to me. "Do you have your stuff?"

I opened my mouth to respond, but another voice cut me off. "I've got it right here, Ace!"

Alustriel smirked. "I was wondering where your partner in crime was, Robyn."

Chaos laughed as he walked in, carrying both his bag and mine. I facepalmed at the title, but grinned as I reached to take my bag from him. "Never far behind… at least, most of the time."

Chaos hugged me and looked at my face. "You okay? Nothing broken?"

"Nope. Just bruised and sore," I said.

He glanced over to Sonic and a smirk slowly curled the corners of his lips. "Good. Otherwise I'd break his nose in return."

"Chaos!" I giggled as I hit his shoulder.

Sonic sweatdropped and laughed a little. Alustriel shook her head at my best friend. "Get in line, Hedgehog."

Chaos stuck his tongue out at her. I laughed; the two of them had a weird relationship. They always bickered with each other and drove each other insane, but at the end of the day they had each other's backs. She'd never admit it, but Alustriel considered Chaos to be part of the family. Chaos on the other hand had a lot of respect for Alustriel, considering that she was super smart and could handle herself in any regard. It made me happy that they cared for each other.

"I already signed you out and told Zoey that we were on our way home. Where is Tails?" Alustriel asked.

"Here I am!" Tails proclaimed as he rushed into the room.

Alustriel smiled widely and ruffled his fur. "Hey squirt."

"Ace!" he whined as he fixed his fur.

She waved a hand and looked at Chaos. "We'll see you in half an hour?"

Chaos nodded and then snapped his fingers. "I already told Robyn and Tails, but I need to tell you and Zoey. Maria wants you guys to join us for dinner."

Alustriel chuckled. "Sure."

I hugged Chaos and then turned to Sonic, who looked kinda out of place. I smiled softly and walked over to hug him as well. "See ya tomorrow, Sonic. No hard feelings, I promise."

He smiled and returned my hug. "See ya. I really am sorry."

I laughed and then pulled my phone out of my pocket. "How about we exchange numbers? I can text you in the morning and introduce you to the rest of the gang."

He nodded and pulled his phone out too. We quickly programmed our numbers into the other's phone before smiling at each other. Then I turned back to Alustriel, Tails, and Chaos. I poked Chaos quickly as we started walking out of the room. "Tell the others that I'm fine so that they don't blow my phone up."

He laughed and waved. "Will do."

My siblings and I walked out of the school while Chaos and Sonic went to their lockers. Once we were out of earshot, Tails turned to me. "Was that the new kid?"

"Yeah. His name is Sonic," I answered.

He narrowed his eyes at me and then grinned. "He likes you."

I stopped abruptly and stared at my little brother. "What?! He does not!"

"Did you NOT see his face when you gave him your number? Also he kept looking at you and nobody else. He likes you," Tails said matter-of-factly.

I scowled. "You're ridiculous."

"Alustriel! Didn't you notice it too?" Tails demanded.

My sister chuckled as we walked up to her car and she unlocked the doors. "Leave me out of this."

Tails sighed and then turned to me again as we got in the car. "He likes you!"

"Does not!" I retorted.

"Does too!"

"Does not!"

"Does too!"

It was like that for the rest of the ride home. Alustriel somehow managed to ignore both of us the whole way home. Tails' evidence was flimsy as far as I was concerned. Sonic most likely only felt bad for hitting me in the face. Besides, he had to meet the rest of the gang. Once I introduced him, he wouldn't "focus on me" so much.

Right?

**I feel accomplished.**

**Two writings in the span of… less than 24 hours. *victory fist***

**Anywho, like I mentioned last night, this will probably be the last chapter until the end of November. I'm gearing up for NaNoWriMo so all of my other stories will be on hold until I finish or until the end of the month. Whichever comes first.**

**Ja ne!**


	5. Sonic Meets The Gang

_**werewolf99: **_**We'll see. I have a lot of writing that I need to catch up on.**

_**Cheezel1993:**_** I'm glad you're liking the story so far! Expect more humor and amazingness to come your way! :)**

_Chapter Four_

"Robyn! Are you okay?!" Zoey cried out as we pulled into the driveway.

I carefully stepped out of Alustriel's car and smiled at my red-furred sister. "I'm fine, Zoey. Nothing's broken."

She ran up to me and examined my face closely. "Nice band-aid. Makes you look like you got a nose job."

"Ha, ha. Very funny," I responded sarcastically as I pulled my messenger bag out of the back seat.

Tails hopped out next to me and grinned. "Hiya Zoey!"

"Hey, little bro. How was school?" she asked.

"School was fine, same as always. Well, except for Robyn's nose. Oh! We also have a new student in our grade, and he's completely smitten with Robyn!" he exclaimed.

"TAILS! He is not!" I yelped.

Zoey raised an eyebrow at me, amused. "Oh? Who is he?"

I sighed and facepalmed. "His name is Sonic the Hedgehog. He transferred over from Knothole High. Tails is convinced that he likes me because he was looking at me while we were in the nurse's office. The guy only felt bad for hitting me with a basketball, that's all."

"So he's the one who left you with the nose job?" Zoey grinned.

"ZOEY!" I groaned as I punched her arm.

Alustriel rolled her eyes as she locked the car up. "Leave her alone, Zoe."

"What? I'm not saying anything. Tails is the one who believes that this Sonic kid likes our little sister," Zoey said as she wrapped her arms around me.

I rolled my eyes at the sky. "He doesn't."

"He does," Tails said stubbornly before running inside.

A loud roaring of a motorcycle engine caught my attention before I could go running after my brother. I glanced to the street to see Chaos driving his motorcycle down the street. Cautiously, he pulled into his garage and parked the bike before making his way over to us. "Hello, Prower ladies!"

"Chaos!" Zoey squealed as she huggled my hedgehog friend.

Chaos laughed and returned her affection. "Zoey~!"

He waved to Alustriel as he let go of Zoey before he turned to me and smiled. "Heyyyy, bestie."

"Hi!" I greeted as I went to hug him. 

He hugged me in return and rubbed circles on my back. Zoey watched the two of us and smirked. "You two are cute. It's adorable."

I immediately pulled away from Chaos and gave my sister a Look. "Really?"

"Yes," she shot back.

Chaos chuckled and winked at me. "Don't listen to her, Robyn."

"Trust me, I don't. And now I'm not listening to Tails either. He's convinced that Sonic likes me!" I exclaimed.

Chaos' aqua blue eyes narrowed a little. "The new kid? Pfft. He felt bad for hitting you with the basketball. Plus he's only known you for… not even four hours. There's no way."

"THANK YOU!" I shouted as I hugged him again.

He chuckled and hugged me back. "You're welcome."

"Anyway, onto a different subject… Maria wants us to come over for dinner," Alustriel told Zoey as we all walked inside.

"Really? Okay. That saves me the headache of trying to figure out what we were going to do for dinner," Zoey said.

Chaos laughed. "Maria was saying that she hasn't seen either of you lately, so she wanted to invite you over."

"Hah. I've been busy with work, I dunno what Zoey's been doing," Alustriel said as she eyed her twin closely.

"Oi! I've been doing work-related things too!" Zoey protested.

I laughed as I headed to my room to get changed. Chaos followed me into my room and flopped onto my bed. "Ahh… softness!"

"Doofus! Get off my bed!" I laughed.

"But softness!" he exclaimed as he gave me a sad face.

"But privacy!" I tossed back as I picked a pillow up and threw it at him.

"It's not like I haven't seen anything before," Chaos said as he caught the pillow and threw it back at me.

"Oh my god…! Fine, I'm changing in my bathroom then," I growled as I grabbed a change of clothes and walked into the bathroom, making sure to lock the door behind me.

I heard him laughing and I wanted to smack him. We weren't little kids anymore, we were nearly adults. Sure, he was my best friend and I trusted him, but if my family happened to find out that he watched me change then I'd never hear the end of it. Zoey was already one hundred percent convinced that Chaos and I would end up together… I wasn't sure what Tails and Alustriel thought, but Zoey could make a pretty good argument.

Shaking my head, I quickly stripped out of the clothes I'd worn to school and changed into a pair of dark blue sweatpants and an oversized black sweatshirt. I pulled a brush through my hair and quickly scrubbed my teeth clean before I unlocked the door and walked out to see Chaos STILL resting on my bed. He was flipping through texts on his phone as he looked over at me and smirked.

"You're wearing my sweatshirt," he said smugly.

I rolled my eyes as I put my dirty clothes in a pile near the door. Then I turned and jumped on the bed, nearly tackling him. "Caudex."

He simply laughed as I hit his shoulder. "You looooooooooove me."

"No," I responded as I shoved him off my bed.

He landed on the ground with a 'thud' and an "Oof!" of surprise. He looked up at me. "That wasn't nice."

"Neither was this," I said as I rolled off the bed and landed on him.

"Ow! Geez woman!" he yelped as he cushioned my fall.

I laughed as I fell onto the floor. "Love you."

"No," he grumbled as he pouted.

**-XxXxX-**

It was a common occurrence that I stayed the night over at Chaos' place. My siblings didn't mind (although Zoey would never fail to make some kind of perverted comment) and Maria and Shadow were more than happy to have me over. Sometimes Maria and I would stay up late, talking about girlish things while Chaos and Shadow usually hogged the Xbox. On rare occasions, Tails would join us and watched as Shadow and I raced each other in Mario Kart while Chaos helped Maria with dinner.

Most nights, however, I spent my time with Chaos. No matter what we decided to do, we'd always end up having the most fun with each other. Shadow would be studying in his room on those nights and Maria would be fast asleep, knocked out from her medication. Chaos and I would usually go to The Diner late at night and talk about everything that was going on, the conversation ranging from our friends to our families to our futures. My hedgehog bestie wanted to be a musician, which I thought was appropriate for him- piano wasn't the only instrument he knew how to play. I wanted to be a writer, though part of me still yearned to be a famous violinist someday. That part of me kind of wanted to live out part of Sapphira's dream, even though she wasn't here anymore.

That night, we decided to refrain from going to The Diner (seeing as we had already been there for lunch). Once my siblings had gone home and Shadow and Maria had turned in for the night, Chaos motioned for me to follow him. We went outside and climbed up into an old tree house we had played in when we were kids, and then we climbed over a branch to make it onto the roof of the house. We sat on the top of the roof and looked up at the sky, admiring all of the stars that had come out.

Chaos wrapped an arm around me when I shivered. "Cold?"

"Just a little," I said as I scooted closer to him and rested my head on his shoulder.

"You're wearing a freaking sweatshirt, woman. MY sweatshirt, to be exact," Chaos chuckled.

I stuck my tongue out at him. "I don't do well with the cold, you know this."

He rolled his eyes briefly before he pulled me onto his lap and wrapped both of his arms around me. "Better?"

A faint blush came to my cheeks, and I thanked Chaos above that my hedgehog friend couldn't see my face at the moment. "Yeah."

We were both quiet for a few minutes. Then I tilted my head back so I could look at him. "So… what do you think of Sonic?"

Chaos paused for a few seconds to think, and then he shrugged. "I dunno. He seems okay."

"Well, you'll get to know him better. All of us will. I'm going to introduce him to the others tomorrow, maybe even invite him to the hangout on Saturday," I said.

"… You seem kinda interested in him," my friend noted.

"What? He's the new kid, and he needs friends. I got to know him a little better while we were in the nurse's office, and I feel like he'll fit right in with us," I said as I turned slightly to look at him properly.

Chaos shrugged. "If you say so."

"Would you rather that he became one of Fiona's possé?" I asked a little sharply.

He blinked at me. "No… just… never mind."

I looked at him worriedly, my eyes softening. "Chaos… what?"

He remained quiet. I raised an eyebrow at him. "You're seriously not thinking the same thing that Tails was saying earlier, are you? About Sonic liking me or whatever?"

"Can you blame me, Robyn? I saw him as well. He barely took his eyes off of you. Yeah, I know what I said to Zoey earlier, but… Tails may have a point," the hedgehog said quietly.

I groaned. "Really…?"

"If he were to admit that he liked you, what would you do?" Chaos asked.

I shook my head and smiled faintly at him. "It's too early to be thinking that. If it happens… well, I'll let you know."

He opened his mouth to protest, but I rested my head on his chest and hugged him. "Why do you even ask?"

"… Um… I'm your best friend, Robyn. If a guy likes you… I'd just want to know. I'd wanna protect you," he said sheepishly.

I laughed and tilted my head up to kiss his cheek in a sisterly fashion. "You're the best. Don't worry; you'll always be my favorite."

His face seemed to turn a faint shade of red in the moonlight. "Right… um… we should get to sleep. School in the morning and all that wonderful stuff."

**-XxXxX-**

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN ONE DIRECTION SUCKS?!"

"IT'S EXACTLY WHAT I MEAN! ONE. DIRECTION. SUCKS."

"THEY DO NOT!"

I facepalmed as I walked up. "I can hear you two arguing all the way from the parking lot."

"ROOOBYYNNN! Thank goodness you're here; you can save me from their endless bickering! Silver exclaimed as he jumped to his feet.

Kelly pointed to Shadow. "Tell him that One Direction does not suck!"

"No, you tell HER that they DO suck!" Shadow retorted.

"Um… keep me out of this?" I laughed.

Amy snorted at my response. Rouge facepalmed. "You know if someone doesn't end this right now, they're gonna be arguing about it for the rest of the day right?"

"So why do I have to be the one to stop them?" I asked as I dropped my messenger bag on the steps.

"Because they actually listen to you," Knuckles said as he looked up from his math homework with Shade sitting next to him.

I sighed and looked at Kelly and Shadow. "Seriously. Shut up. Everyone has their opinion about music."

"Preach it," Chaos said as he jogged up.

Kelly pouted as she adjusted her new t-shirt, which happened to feature the band in question on it. I chuckled quietly and then glanced around for any sign of Sonic. Students were everywhere, making their way to the doors in order to get ready for class. However, there was no sign of the blue hedgehog. I glanced down to my phone to see that I had a new text and I quickly read it, smiling when I realized it was from my new friend.

**Sonic: Be there momentarily. Traffic is terrible -_-**

I giggled. It was true; traffic was usually pretty bad in the mornings with the high school kids trying to be on time and adults heading off to their jobs. I quickly typed a response back.

**Robyn: Gonna have to get used to it, Sonic :P it's always horrible around here.**

**Sonic: That would've been nice to know sooner!**

**Robyn: Sorry! I thought you knew already. How long have you been here?**

**Sonic: Only two days… I got here the night before last.**

**Robyn: Awwkkkward. Sorry. **

"You texting Sonic?"

I looked up from my phone and gave Tails a Look. "Yeah. What about it?"

He smirked. "Nothing, sis. Absolutely nothing."

"Robyn's got the hots for someone?!" Blaze exclaimed as she looked up from her book.

"What? No! Why is everyone saying that?" I asked, a little frustrated.

"Weeelllll everyone heard about what happened in Gym yesterday. Add the details that Tails told us… it sure sounds like he likes you and you like him back," Cream grinned.

I groaned. "Tails. I am GOING to kill you."

"Killing your siblings isn't very nice, Robyn," a voice said in amusement.

I turned around to see Sonic walking up to us. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt with blue jeans and the same sneakers from yesterday. I couldn't help but chuckle. "Come on Sonic, you have siblings too. You must've had moments where you wanted to kill them."

He grinned. "I know. I was just teasing."

I felt the others' eyes on me, so I smiled faintly and turned my attention back to them. "Guys, this is the new kid. Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic, these are a few of my friends. You know Chaos already…"

The two hedgehogs nodded to each other. I smiled. "You also know Kelly and Blaze from our Creative Writing class."

"Hey Sonic," the two said in unison.

He waved to them. I quickly grabbed Tails and put him in a headlock, ruffling his bangs. "Aaaannnddd I think you said you had my brother in your AP Chem class?"

"Yep. Hello lab partner," Sonic said with a smile.

"Robyn! Let me go!" Tails complained as he squirmed.

I laughed as I let him go. "Lab partner? Lucky you. I hope you can keep up with him."

Sonic grinned. "We'll see."

"So out of everyone else… hang on, where's Cosmo?" I asked.

"Doctor's appointment. She'll be at lunch," Kelly told me.

"All righty then~! Sonic, this is Rouge. I've known her practically all my life," I said.

The bat stuck her hand out and grinned knowingly at Sonic. "So you're the one who almost broke Robyn's nose."

I groaned. Sonic sweatdropped a little as he shook her hand. "It was an accident."

"Oh don't worry, I know it was. It's just that Robyn's a magnet for accidents," Rouge laughed.

"ROUGE!" I yelped.

She stuck her tongue out at me. I gave her a smoldering look before turning to Cream. "This is Cream, and she's the sweetest girl I've ever met. Well, besides Cosmo, who you will meet later. She's also an excellent baker!"

"Oh, sweet! Hi Cream. If you're that good, I'll have to ask you to make me a cake for my mom's birthday. I'm terrible at it," Sonic said as he scratched his head sheepishly.

Cream giggled. "Don't worry! I'll help you. Just let me know when her birthday is."

I smiled at the fact that they were already getting along, and then gestured to the other two echidnas. "That's Knuckles, and that's his girlfriend Shade. Shade can be really serious sometimes, but I've known her almost as long as Rouge so she's loosened up over the years. Knuckles and Kelly are cousins… and Knuckles is a bit of a hothead."

"HEY!" Knuckles exclaimed as he looked at me.

I giggled. "No offense, Knux."

Sonic nodded to him. I looked over at Silver, who really wasn't paying attention. His eyes were on Blaze, who had her nose back in her book. I snapped my fingers at him a few times. "Silver!"

"Huh? Oh, what? I'm Silver. That's me. In case you didn't know," he said quickly.

I facepalmed and started laughing. "Yes. That's Silver. Probably the most flamboyant mothertrucker I know-"

"Stop judging my quills!" he whined.

"I didn't say anything about your quills…! Pothead," I smirked.

"But now you did, you mean old banana!" he pouted.

"I am a delicious banana, I don't know what you're talking about," I joked.

Poor Sonic looked beyond confused at this point. I turned to him and laughed again. "Inside joke. Silver's the guy to go to when you need a laugh."

He slowly grinned and waved at Silver. My friend absently returned the gesture, scooting over to Blaze and reading over her shoulder. I looked at Amy, who had been watching Sonic almost the entire time. "Sonic, this is Amy. She's my stand partner in Orchestra."

"Hey Sonic. Great to meet you. Welcome to Chaos High," Amy beamed as she stuck her hand out for him to shake.

He seemed to go a little red in the face as he took her hand and shook it. "H-Hey, Amy. I'm glad to be here."

Amy grinned. I looked at Sonic and then internally smirked. Guys almost always blushed around Amy, and I didn't blame them- she was really pretty. No matter what she was wearing, she always managed to look like she stepped off the cover of a magazine. I turned to give Tails a _"I told you so"_ look. He rolled his eyes at me and waved a hand dismissively.

Lastly I turned to Shadow, who was going through the songs on his iPod. "Shadow!"

He looked up and met my gaze. "Yes, Kotori?"

I smiled at being called "Little bird". It was a pet name he'd had for me for as long as we've been close. "This is the new kid I was telling you about at dinner last night. Sonic, this is Shadow. He's Chaos' brother and another really close friend of mine."

Shadow eyed Sonic up and down. He scrunched his face up a little bit. "This is the kid that hit you with a basketball?"

I facepalmed. Sonic looked at him suspiciously. "This is the guy that supposedly can go at the speed of sound?"

"Yeah. What about it?" Shadow asked.

Sonic laughed. "Hate to burst your bubble, Shads, but I'm the fastest thing alive."

Everyone immediately looked over upon hearing this. Shadow scoffed. "First off, don't call me Shads. Second, I'M the fastest thing around here-"

"Oi!" Chaos protested.

"-and anyone who wishes to try and take the title must beat me in a race first," Shadow continued as if Chaos hadn't spoken.

Sonic's green eyes gleamed with excitement. "Well, then… challenge _accepted_."

**Figured I'd stop there :P**

**Anywho, NaNoWriMo… I managed somewhere over 11,000 words. *sigh* I got distracted by one-shots and school. School's a bitch. It's gotten to the point where I'm not going next semester. That, and I've got home issues to sort out before I can go back.**

**Such is life.**

**I was going to go a bit into the dinner with Chaos' family, to give you guys a feel of how dinners usually turn out when the two families come together, but… lazy :P**

**Expect a race between Shadow and Sonic next chapter, and some other stuff that may happen~!**


	6. Sonic vs Shadow vs Chaos?

_**Christian Ape99: **_**Glad you like it~**

_**Cheezel1993:**_** I'm flattered that you like this story so much! Your words definitely motivated me to write more :) yes, we're going to have the Sonic vs. Shadow race, and thanks for everything that you said!**

_Chapter Five_

I looked at Sonic, who was smirking almost in a triumphant sort of manner. Shadow merely raised an eyebrow at him as he took his earbud out of his left ear and twirled it between his fingers. "Very well, then. After school. 3 o'clock. Behind the gym."

"Sounds like a plan," Sonic grinned.

Everyone else was whispering amongst themselves, sneaking looks of surprise at Sonic every so often. Chaos stood beside me and placed an arm around my shoulders. I turned my head to look at him. "What?"

His aqua-blue eyes met my jade ones. Whatever he was thinking, his eyes weren't telling me. "We should probably head to our lockers."

I blinked in confusion. We stared at each other for several seconds before I shrugged and reached down to grab my bag. "Sure."

We bid goodbye to the others and headed inside the building. I watched Chaos' face for a sign of… anything. His face remained blank as we approached our lockers. He took out what he needed, closed his locker, and turned to me. "Well?"

"Well what?" I asked as I took out my sheet music for orchestra.

"You've introduced him and now my brother wants to run him into the mud," Chaos said.

I rolled my eyes. "It's just a race."

"Yes, but if Sonic eggs him on like that, Shadow might end up punching him in the face. The guy is a cocky little trucker," he said as we walked to study hall.

"I'll talk to him then," I sighed.

Mr. Turner looked up from his desk as we walked in. "Hello, you two."

"Hi!" we both greeted.

"I have a note from Miss Hallowcloak. She wants you two to go to the music room so she can help Miss Prower prepare for her solo piece?" he said questioningly as he looked over his glasses at me.

"Oh! Okay. Yeah, I have a solo piece. I'm playing 'Shatter Me' by Lindsey Stirling and Kelly is going to be singing the song," I beamed.

He raised an eyebrow. "That sounds like it will be fun. I'll have to come see your performance."

"You should! It's going to be awesome," Chaos said excitedly.

Our teacher chuckled. "Go on, then. Practice."

"See ya sixth period!" I called over my shoulder as we left the room.

On our way to Miss Hallowcloak's room, we bumped into Scourge the Hedgehog. He lowered his shades and peered at me with a smirk. "Robyn Prower. Just the woman I was looking for."

"What do you want, Scourge?" I asked with a slight trace of annoyance.

"Apparently you've befriended my goody two-shoes cousin," the green hedgehog said as he stuck his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

I blinked, trying to figure out what he meant. Then my eyes widened. "Wait… Sonic's your cousin?"

He made a face. "Unfortunately."

"That would explain the cockiness," Chaos muttered.

I elbowed him in the ribs. "Stop it. So what if I'm his friend, Scourge?"

The green hedgehog smirked as he lifted his shades back up to cover his eyes. "This will be an interesting year, Miss Prower… very interesting indeed…"

With that he walked off, chuckling. I looked at Chaos, who was already looking at me. "That was weird."

"It's Scourge though. Are you surprised?" Chaos asked as we continued walking.

"Still, that was weird even for Scourge's standards," I murmured.

My best friend put his arm around my waist and gave me an affectionate squeeze. "Don't worry about it, Robyn. No matter what, we'll face the year together."

I couldn't help but smile as I slid my arm around him in return. "You and me?"

"You and me against the world," he grinned.

"Now THAT's what I like to hear!" Miss Hallowcloak's voice called out.

We looked to see our orchestra teacher standing outside of the performing arts office. As always, she looked gorgeous- she was wearing a navy blue dress with white flowers on it and knee-high black boots. Her eyes twinkled at us. "Good morning."

"Morning!" we responded in unison.

"All we have to do is wait for Kelly and we'll get started with this practice," Miss Hallowcloak said as she took a sip of her drink from her favorite coffee cup.

I smiled at the cup. It wasn't anything fancy- just a white china cup with the words "Favorite music teacher" on it- but she had just about cried when Kelly and I gave it to her a few years back. She absolutely loved it and was rarely seen in the mornings without it.

Speaking of Kelly, I spotted her running down the hallway towards us. "Sorry! I'm here!"

"Hi Kels!" I greeted.

"Kelly," Miss Hallowcloak smiled.

My echidna friend turned to me with a huge grin and hugged me. "Can you believe this?! We're going to be performing together in front of the whole school!"

I grinned widely. "I know! It's going to be one heck of a performance."

Chaos smirked as he ruffled Kelly's dreads. "It's going to be THE performance of the year…"

A small frown crossed Miss Hallowcloak's lips, and then she facepalmed. "Silly me. I forgot to mention that this won't be part of the winter concert."

The three of us looked to her in surprise. "It's not?" Kelly asked.

"No. This is for a special event towards the end of the year. I don't have too many details for you yet, but practice is required immediately," Miss Hallowcloak explained.

Chaos looked to Kelly, and then to me. "Huh. Interesting."

The blue echidna shrugged and grinned again. "I still say that we're going to _nail_ it. What do you say, Robyn?"

I mirrored her grin. "Let's get practicing."

**-XxXxX-**

The school day seemed to fly by. Practice was pretty smooth; classes were boring. Cosmo met Sonic at lunch time and she seemed thrilled to have a new friend in the gang. He was fascinated by her Seedrian heritage and the two of them were in deep conversation almost the entire time.

3 o'clock rolled around and I was walking out with Chaos, Sonic, and Sally. Sonic seemed pumped for this race. "I haven't had any decent competition for ages."

"Well, Shadow will definitely provide you with a thrill," Sally said.

I only caught the end of her sentence, and I immediately started giggling. She turned to me and elbowed me. "Not like that, ya perv."

I stuck my tongue out at her. Chaos' ears twitched, and then he facepalmed. "Thanks for the image, guys."

Sally and I both squealed and started laughing. Sonic turned to look at all three of us with wide eyes. "… Wow."

"Yes, this is normal," I said with a grin.

"Guys! Over here!" Amy's voice suddenly rang out.

We looked over. Amy was standing near the track behind the gym. Rouge, Cream, Kelly, Cosmo, Shade, Knuckles, and Shadow were all behind her, seemingly deep in conversation. Kelly was the first one to look up and she skipped over to us. "Are you guys ready for this?"

"I know I am," Sonic grinned.

Kelly took Sonic's hand and dragged him over to the others. Sally, Chaos, and I followed and greeted everybody. Amy motioned for Sonic and Shadow to stand next to her. I glanced around and frowned. "Where's my brother? And Blaze and Silver?"

"They'll be here in a minute," Cosmo spoke up.

"Sorry we're late!" Blaze called out as she and Silver ran over with their bags thudding against their backs.

"Okay, all we need is Tails-" Shade started to say.

"Here I am!" my brother yelped as he flew over, his two tails whirling.

"Excellent! Now we can get this race started," Amy beamed.

She pulled a map out of her jacket and unfolded it. "I designed a simple route for this race. You two will start here at the school, then follow the road down to The Diner. From there you'll race down to the park, then down to Emerald Middle School, then back to this track. Sound fair?"

Sonic and Shadow both nodded. Amy looked to Sonic. "Do you know the path? Or do you need the map?"

"Um… let me look at it for a minute. I have a pretty good memory," the blue hedgehog answered.

Amy handed him the map and watched over his shoulder. The two began discussing the path. Shadow stepped towards me. "Hey Robyn."

"Hi Shadow," I smiled.

"Any thoughts on this race?" he asked as he crossed his arms- his typical Shadow stance.

I hesitated. "Well… I'm not sure. It could go either way."

He raised an eyebrow. "So he _is_ that fast?"

I nodded. "He was the one who took me to the nurse's yesterday after the basketball incident. He's fast. So I repeat, it could go either way."

Shadow nodded slowly, mulling over the thought. Then he patted my head and ruffled my fur. "Good to know."

"Shadow!" I whined as I fixed my fur.

He smirked. Chaos shook his head at both of us. "That's MY job."

With that he proceeded to put me in a head-lock and gave me a noogie. I shrieked and started hitting him. "CHAOS! LET ME GO!"

Everyone looked over at us. Cream, Kelly, and Cosmo started laughing, Rouge was smirking, and everyone else sans Sonic rolled their eyes. The blue hedgehog smiled faintly and handed the map back to Amy. "Let her go, Chaos. I'm ready to start."

My ears twitched as Chaos let me go. He looked at Sonic and Shadow, then back to me, then back to them. Finally a smirk curled his lips and he stepped forward. "I'm joining this race."

I blinked and frowned at him. "What?"

Shadow was unphased by his brother's declaration. Sonic seemed just as confused as I was. Everyone else was muttering to each other. Amy frowned and then shrugged. "If Sonic and Shadow don't object, I don't see why not."

"I don't care," Shadow said.

"I… Eh, I don't mind. The more the merrier," Sonic said with a small grin.

Chaos silently punched the air in victory and grinned towards me. I rolled my eyes but grinned back. Amy chuckled. "All right. Line up, you three."

The three hedgehogs lined up next to Amy. She glanced to me and motioned for me to come over. "Robyn, you're gonna be the finishing marker."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because I said so. Now stand here," Amy ordered.

I shrugged and stood in front of her. She moved around me and looked to the three hedgehogs. "When you guys get back here, whoever manages to touch Robyn's hand first wins. For the love of Chaos above, don't bowl her over or break her hand in the process."

I sweatdropped. All three hedgehogs smirked and nodded. Amy grinned and pulled me out of their way. "Ready?"

"Yep!"

"Three… two… one… GO!"

And in a flash, all three hedgehogs were gone. They kicked up an impressive amount of dust behind them, causing the rest of us to either cough or sneeze. When it settled, I looked at my friends. They were all surprised at the fact that Sonic was keeping up with Shadow and Chaos. Kelly looked at me. "Do you think that he'll win? That we'll actually have someone to claim the title of 'fastest thing alive'?"

"Sonic? I don't know, Kels. He's just as fast as Shadow and Chaos. It could go any way," I replied.

I looked in the direction that the three had disappeared. I spread my arms out, making sure that my palms were facing in that direction. Not even a few minutes later, I spotted all three hedgehogs headed back towards us. I braced myself for impact…

… and my eyes widened as all three touched my hand at the same time.

They skidded to a stop behind me, almost running Kelly and Amy over. Chaos ended up faceplanting in the dirt, Shadow spun around with a flourish (those freaking jet shoes of his…), and Sonic accidentally splattered Sally as his shoes managed to kick up even more dirt. She emitted an odd squeak as she started brushing the dirt off of her.

"Sorry Sal!" Sonic said, panicked.

"Ha, ha… it's okay! I shouldn't have been standing so close!" she chuckled.

Kelly pulled Chaos to his feet, giggling at the dirt-smeared-face hedgehog. "Smooth ending, Chaos!"

"Oh hush, you," Chaos replied as he lifted a hand and summoned water to his hand.

… Did I forget to mention that my friend is a hydrokinetic? Well there you go. He is.

Sonic stared at Chaos wide-eyed as the red hedgehog cleaned his face off. "Whoa…!"

"Never seen a hydro before?" Chaos smirked.

Sonic shook his head and looked at me. I smiled. "That's the other thing. Most of us have… powers, for lack of better description. Chaos, obviously, has control over water."

"I also have control over Chaos energy, like my brother," Chaos said.

Shadow nodded. "I'm the better Chaos energy user though."

Chaos scowled. "Whatever…"

I pointed to Blaze and Silver. "Blaze is a pyrokinetic, and Silver is a telekinetic."

Sonic raised an eyebrow at them. Blaze smirked and lit her hand on fire, while Silver's hand was surrounded by a teal glow. I giggled at the look on Sonic's face before continuing. "My brother uses his tails to fly, and Cream does the same thing with her ears. Knuckles is inhumanly strong and can use his knuckles to climb things. Sally doesn't have any actual powers, but she has the mind of a tactician. She's also really agile. Both Shade and Rouge have excellent combat skills. If you need someone to beat someone up, they're your girls. They also have some serious stealth skills."

"Ninjas?" Sonic asked.

Rouge and Shade laughed. "We get that a lot," Rouge answered.

"They do. It's hilarious. Anyway… Amy has the ability to summon this giant hammer out of nowhere. Ames, show him," I said.

Amy grinned and flicked her wrist. Immediately she was holding a giant red and yellow hammer, which caused Sonic to jump a little. "Holy… that thing is HUGE!"

Amy lifted the hammer up like it was nothing and rested it over her shoulder with a smirk. Sonic's mouth fell open. "Geez… you must be really strong!"

"Eh, not as strong as Knuckles," Amy said.

I gestured to Cosmo. "The rosebuds in Cosmo's hair? She can use them to gain nourishment from the sun, and she can also heal using them. It's pretty neat!"

Kelly jumped forward eagerly. "Robyn and I have… kind of similar powers."

She lit her fist up with an arctic-blue flame. "Mine's called Arctic Fire. It brings two polar opposites- ice and fire- and combines them into one."

I opened my hand to Sonic and a purple flame, sparking with electricity, popped up in my palm. "Mine's called Starfire… I've been trying to research it ever since I discovered that I had it, but there's barely anything about it. It's supposed to be a myth."

"That's so cool!" Sonic's eyes were wide as he looked around at everyone. "All of you, that's really cool!"

I closed my hand to put out the Starfire and then smiled. "Really? You don't think it's weird?"

"Not at all! I know how it feels to have something that no one else- or, in my case, very few people- have. I used to get picked on back at Knothole for being so fast. No one else had any kind of special ability, as far as I knew. So… yeah!" he beamed.

Kelly grinned. "I like him! Can we keep him?"

Everyone busted up laughing at that, including the blue echidna herself.

**Oh. My God.**

**This chapter.**

**I know I know I know, it's been almost 3 months since I updated this and I come back with a crappy filler chapter. SORRY! I've been busy, and I lost the ideas I had for this chapter, and I just wanna get a move-on so yeah. I promise next chapter will be better! **

**See y'all later~!**


	7. Truth or Dare

_**Chaotic hedgehog: **_***facepalms at your laziness***

**Shadow: *no comment*  
Pfffffft. He's a pain.**

***Don't we all? xD***

***nudge nudge* xD**

**Robyn: Oi! D:**

**You lost that bet, son :P**

**YES THE FACEPLANT.**

**Kelly: :3**

***throws the chapter at you* HERE xD**

_Chapter Six_

That afternoon sparked the beginning of an amazing friendship between Sonic and the rest of us. Just as I had predicted, he fit right in with us. He and Tails became fast friends, surprisingly bonding over chemistry. They were always talking about their class experiments (this led to Rouge affectionately nicknaming them "Geek One and Geek Two"). My brother really admired Sonic, I could tell. To my delight, he returned the admiration one hundred percent.

Shadow and Sonic had more of a rivalry than a friendship. The two of them were almost always butting heads. I had declared a tie for that race and while Chaos and Shadow hadn't been surprised, Sonic was the complete opposite. Apparently he was one of those people who believed in a "final victor" or whatever. Chaos didn't seem to care enough; he had only joined that race for the hell of it. Shadow, however… I couldn't explain what was going through his head. But he entertained the idea of beating Sonic in a race someday.

Boys. Never gonna understand them.

Sonic developed an "older brother" relationship with Cream, Kelly, and Cosmo. It was freaking _adorable_ how soft he was with them! It always brought a smile to my face knowing that they were in good hands. In return, he got the rest of us girls as his "older sisters". The guys would roll their eyes as we gushed over Sonic (who was always amused by this, no matter how many times he tried to deny it).

Surprisingly though, Sonic seemed to have a particular fondness for me. We texted all the time. We got called to do impromptu skits in our Creative Writing class. The biggest surprise was when he showed up to Symphony Orchestra one day and told me that Miss Hallowcloak wanted him to be our guitarist. That was the first time I got to hear him play as I challenged him to a play-off. Chaos had immediately cranked up the background music for "Roundtable Rival" by Lindsey Stirling and the whole class knew that things were gonna go down. At the end we had both been impressed with each other's performance and Miss Hallowcloak had been amused.

After that we began to hang out a lot more. He'd come over to my house with his guitar and we'd hang out in the basement, blasting our instruments at full volume. We'd translate each other's music and get into long discussions about famous musicians. Chaos would sometimes join us, although on a few occasions he'd just sit at the piano and hit random notes.

I will admit that Chaos and I did seem to kinda drift away a little bit. He seemed to be bothered by something and I couldn't put my finger on it, although half the time I was with Sonic. Every time I did ask him if everything was okay, he'd just nod and give me a little smile. Eventually I stopped asking him- I trusted that he'd tell me if something was seriously wrong.

**-XxXxX-**

A couple of months passed. One Friday afternoon after school in November, I was at home with my siblings and Kelly. My echidna friend was helping me prepare a hangout that I was hosting that evening for the gang. Well, she was SUPPOSED to be helping me… I was cleaning up the place and I looked over to see that she was still on her phone. Her eyes hadn't left the damn thing since we had left school.

"Kelly, are you messaging your boyfriend again?" I teased.

The echidna looked up from her phone, her muzzle turning a pale shade of red. "He is NOT my boyfriend!"

"So you ARE talking to him!" Zoey grinned triumphantly as she walked into the kitchen.

"... Merp!" Kelly uttered before fleeing to my room.

I giggled and put my hands on my face. "She's so cute when she's trying to deny something!"

Alustriel rolled her eyes as she continued to chop vegetables. We were having homemade Chinese food for dinner, and Ace made some of the best. Well… she made awesome food in general. Zoey can't cook to save her life sometimes.

"Who's this boy you're talking about again?" my blue-furred sister asked.

"His name is Xavier. Kelly met him a few years ago at camp and they became fast friends. He lives on Angel Island so she only gets to see him when she goes back home. I'm telling you, they're gonna end up together someday," I said as I moved my hands away from my face.

She chuckled. "I could say the same about a certain sister of mine in this room with her new hedgehog friend."

_CLANG!_

Zoey dropped a pot into the sink, staring at her twin with wide blue eyes. I'm pretty sure I matched Chaos' quill color as I also stared at Alustriel.

My genius sister smirked as she kept her gaze on the vegetables. "What're you both gawking at?"

"You just admitted that you see Robyn and Sonic together. You're engaging in GIRL TALK for once!" Zoey squealed.

Master eye roll from Alustriel. I kept quiet as Zoey continued to grin. "I'm so proud of you, Alussie!"

"Shut up Zoe," was Alustriel's only response.

"I will have to disagree with you though. Chaos and Robyn will be together forever," my red-furred sister said as she clasped her hands together.

If it was possible for me to turn any redder at that moment, I did. "Z-ZOEY!"

"WHAT?" she grinned.

I groaned and stood up. "I'm going to see if Kels is done talking to Xavier yet…"

I could hear Zoey snickering as I made my way up the stairs. When I reached the second floor, Tails poked his head out of his room. "Nothing's broken down there, right?"

"Nope. Zoey dropped a pot into the sink," I told him.

"And whyyyyy did I see Kelly retreat into your room a few minutes ago?" he asked.

I grinned. "We were teasing her about Xavier. She's been on her phone since we left school."

My brother smiled as he joined me in the hallway. "And you automatically assume she's talking to Xavier?"

"When her face is glued to her phone for that long, yes," I responded as we walked to my room.

Kelly was STILL on her phone when Tails and I walked in. She was lounging in my beanbag chair by my window. I flopped onto my bed while my brother proceeded to sit in front of Kelly and poke her legs repeatedly. "Whatcha dooooooin'?"

"Talking to Xavier. Quit poking my legs!" she said as she swatted his hand.

He smirked. "You should join us in an actual conversation, Kels."

"Sorrrrrrrrrrrrrry. He was ranting about his friends giving him a hard time with something. I told him to find a way to get back at them," the echidna explained as she FINALLY put her phone down.

I lifted my head and gave her a long Look. "Really?"

"Yes! Well… he also wanted to know when I'd be coming home next. He misses me," she admitted with a faint blush.

I smirked. "Called it."

"Robyn…! He's my best friend," she sighed exasperatedly.

"That's what they all say," I said as I rolled onto my back and stared at my ceiling.

"… You know, that IS what they all say. It's what you say whenever someone teases you about Chaos," Kelly said as she pointed at me.

I opened my mouth to protest, but Tails cut me off. "Oh it's worse when someone asks her about Sonic."

"Hah, I've noticed that too. I'm surprised he hasn't made a move yet. It's so obvious he likes her," Kelly grinned.

"I've asked him about it. He gets all red and embarrassed. I know he wants to," Tails chuckled.

"Uh, hello? Still here?" I interrupted.

They both shot knowing looks at me. I facepalmed. "You're full of crap."

"You won't be saying that when he finally grows the balls to do it," a voice said from the doorway.

All three of us looked over. "Rouge!"

The white bat grinned as she walked in. She was wearing an aquamarine top (it matched her eyes) and black leggings. Comfortable, but she always managed to look sexy no matter what she was wearing. I envied her so much for it.

"You seriously don't believe this nonsense, do you?" I asked her.

She chuckled and sat in my chair by my desk. "Sorry, Robyn. If you really studied the guy, you would see it too. He's smitten with you."

I groaned and my face hit my bed with a muffled _thump_. Then my ears twitched as the doorbell rang. Kelly shifted in her seat. "I bet that's Chaos."

She was proven wrong a few seconds later. Zoey opened the door and then she called up the stairs, "Robyn! Sonic and Silver are here!"

I quickly sat up. "Send them up!"

Footsteps sounded on the steps and then Silver made his dramatic entrance. "Never fear, ladies! Silver is here!"

Rouge, Kelly, and I groaned. Tails started chuckling. Sonic rolled his eyes as he stepped around the other hedgehog. "Hey guys."

We greeted our blue friend. Sonic smiled at me and looked like he was going to sit next to me, but Silver dumped his stuff on the floor and jumped on my bed, nearly tackling me in the process. "Robyn I forgot how amazing your bed was."

Kelly immediately started giggling. I took one look at her and instantly knew how she took that sentence. I threw a pillow at her. "Kelly!"

Rouge and Tails started cracking up. Sonic facepalmed. Silver smirked and wrapped an arm around me. "It's okay, Robyn. Nothing to be ashamed about."

"SILVER!" I yelled as I smacked his arm.

Kelly was _howling_ with laughter at this point. Tails was flailing his hands at us and Rouge had her hands on her face. Sonic was shaking his head in disbelief as he came and sat next to me. "Wow."

"You can't be surprised, Sonic. You've been here about two months now," Rouge said as she moved her hands from her face.

The blue hedgehog shrugged. "Still."

"It's Silver, though. You never know what his screwed-up mind is gonna come up with," Kelly said with a giggle.

"THANK you, Kels- hey, wait a second!" Silver yelped.

Now it was my turn to crack up laughing. Sonic was also laughing- he started clutching my shoulder for support. Silver started pouting and Kelly smirked from her spot on the beanbag. Tails and Rouge shook their heads, and then they looked over to the door as Blaze walked in. "Hi Blaze!"

"What's all the giggling about?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Kelly's being mean to me!" Silver whined.

"Silver set himself up to be insulted, not my fault," Kelly protested.

Blaze rolled her eyes and sat next to Rouge. "You guys are something else."

"Silver are you picking on my cousin again?" Knuckles demanded as he suddenly appeared in my doorway.

"No!" Silver's eyes widened. "She insulted me first!"

Knuckles grinned as he walked over to Kelly and ruffled her dreads. "That's my girl."

Kelly giggled. "Where's Shade?"

"She's picking up Amy, Cream, and Cosmo. Should be here any minute," Knuckles answered as he flopped next to her.

"So, Robyn, do we have a game plan for tonight?" Rouge asked me.

All eyes turned to me. I sweatdropped a little. "Um… well, Ace is making Chinese food for dinner. Lo mein, sweet and sour chicken, vegetable fried rice, honey glazed shrimp, and egg rolls. She said she had stuff for us to make cookies, if we wanted. Zoey's got her ginormous movie collection for us to look through…"

Rouge's eyes gleamed mischievously. "I've got a suggestion."

I eyed her for a moment, and then I facepalmed. "Rouge…"

"What? Sonic has yet to be subjected to it," she pointed out.

Everyone except Sonic understood what she was getting at, and they either facepalmed or groaned. Sonic looked confused. "What…?"

"Truth or dare," Rouge whispered with a wicked grin.

**-XxXxX-**

Don't get me wrong, dear reader. I loved Rouge to death. I'd known her the longest out of all of my friends. She always stuck up for me; in elementary school I was picked on for being a shy, quiet girl. I remembered that she actually got into a fight with Scourge (one of my main tormentors back then) and busted his lip for saying mean things about me. She was loyal and didn't take crap from anyone.

When it came to Truth or Dare, however... she could be merciless.

We managed to put off her suggestion for several hours. First we ate the food Alustriel made, and then we kinda made a mess trying to bake cookies (okay, it was entirely Knuckles' fault…) Ace got irritated with us for that and banned us from the kitchen. We couldn't decide on a movie to watch until Zoey stepped in and suggested "Me, Myself, and Irene". It actually turned out to be a pretty good movie! Then Kelly, being a really big geek, wanted to watch a few of the Batman movies.

During this whole time, I was trying to get ahold of Chaos and Shadow. They hadn't shown up, and they lived right across the street. Every time I glanced to their house, the lights were always off. Chaos had promised that they'd attend, so naturally I was worried.

_**Sent- 7:04pm**_

**Robyn: Hey, everyone else is here. We're about to eat dinner. Where are you?**

_**Sent- 8:58pm**_

**Robyn: Guys, where are you at? We're about to start "Batman Returns". Is everything okay? :/**

_**Sent- 9:30pm**_

**Robyn: So, Silver just managed to spill popcorn all over the entertainment room floor. -_-**

_**Sent- 10:01pm**_

**Robyn: Seriously, you two… please answer. We're all worried here.**

"Still no response," I told the others as I stared at my phone.

Kelly frowned sadly. "I hope they're okay. This isn't like them… well, it's not like Chaos to ignore his phone. Shadow's a different story."

"Shadow answers his phone sometimes. It depends on how urgent the message is," Amy said as she chewed on a piece of an apple.

Rouge shrugged her shoulders. "Well. Until we hear a response from them… Truth or Dare time!"

Silver was the first one to groan, and that got a pillow thrown at him for it. "Was that really necessary?!"

"Yes," Rouge said.

Kelly clapped her hands. "I'm actually excited for this one! Rouge, ask me."

"Okay, Kels. Truth or dare?" the bat asked with a knowing smile.

"Dare!" Kelly exclaimed.

The rest of us stared at her. Kelly usually wasn't one for doing dares. The fact that Rouge went along so easily with it… something was up.

Rouge's smile widened. "I dare you to sing that song I caught you singing in the shower the other day."

With a smile, Kelly stood up and pulled her iPod out of her pocket. She placed it into the stereo system we had in the gaming room and flipped through several songs before finally stopping on one. She pressed "play" and turned to us as a guitar began the song. My ears pricked as I recognized it- "Beautiful with You" by Halestorm.

Now I understood why she was eager to do this dare. Ever since Miss Hallowcloak had given her the part of the singer for "Shatter Me", she had been obsessed with Lzzy Hale, the woman who sings the song. My echidna friend had found out that Lzzy had a band, called Halestorm, and she had gone through all of their songs in about two days.

_I stare  
at the girl in the mirror  
t-shirt  
torn up jeans, no beauty queen._

_But the way that you see me  
You get underneath me  
And all my defenses just fall away _

_Fall away…_

My eyes widened. Was there ANY song Kelly could NOT sing? She sounded AMAZING!

_(Chorus)  
I am beautiful with you  
even in the darkest part of me  
I am beautiful with you  
Make it feel the way it's supposed to be  
You're here with me  
You show me this and I'll believe  
I am beautiful with you…_

_I stand  
naked before you now  
no walls  
to hide behind, so here am I_

_See all of my scars  
Still here you are  
I bare my soul and I am not afraid _

_Not afraid…_

_(Chorus)_

_I am beautiful with you  
even in the darkest part of me  
I am beautiful with you  
Make it feel the way it's supposed to be  
You're here with me  
You show me this and I'll believe  
I am beautiful with you…_

_I've been the strong one  
for so long but  
I was wrong_

_Doesn't make me weak if you're needing someone  
I'm not holding back yeah, I know what I want!_

_I am beautiful with you…_

_I am beautiful with you…_

_You want me for myself  
You get me like no one else!_

_I am beautiful with you (with you!)_

_(Chorus)  
I am beautiful with you  
even in the darkest part of me  
I am beautiful with you  
Make it feel the way it's supposed to be  
You're here with me  
You show me this and I'll believe  
I am beautiful with you…_

When the song ended, we were already cheering wildly for her. Rouge had a smug grin on her face while Kelly blushed and sat down. "Thanks guys!"

"All right, Kels. Your turn," Rouge said.

Kelly's eyes scanned the group before landing on Amy. "Ames, truth or dare?"

"I'm gonna go with truth for now," Amy smiled.

The blue echidna tapped her chin. "Oooooooookay! Hmmm.. how long have you gone without showering?"

My eyes widened again. Bold question. Amy's face turned slightly pink. "Um… well… okay, three and a half days. BUT! I had a reason. Remember that summer I went on a road trip with my family?"

The rest of us nodded. Amy took a deep breath. "Our bus actually broke down in the middle of nowhere, so instead of using the water to shower, we used it to keep ourselves hydrated and sane until someone came to rescue us."

"Fair enough. Your turn," Kelly nodded.

"Knuckles, Knuckles, Knuckles. Truth or dare?" the pink hedgehog asked.

Knuckles blinked. "Uh… dare, I guess."

Amy slowly grinned. "I dare you to raid Zoey's closet and wear one of her tiniest shirts for the rest of the game."

Rouge, Kelly, and Silver immediately started cracking up. The rest of us went "Ohhhhhhh!" and Knuckles' eyes were the size of watermelons. "Are you _serious_?!"

"Yes I'm serious. It's either that or you have to answer two truths," Amy laughed.

Knuckles grumbled and looked to me and Tails. "Is she in her room?"

"Nah, she's in the lounge watching some reality show," Tails answered.

Knuckles grumbled again and got up to leave the room. We all waited anxiously for a few minutes. When he returned, we all started dying of laughter- he was wearing my sister's black crop top with the word "SEXY" written across it in bold, sparkly pink letters. Kelly was in absolute hysterics upon seeing her cousin that she fell off the couch clutching her sides. Knuckles' face was the exact same shade as his dreadlocks and he flipped all of us off as he sat back down.

"Tails, truth or dare?" he barked.

My brother took a few seconds to stop laughing so hard before answering. "T-Truth."

"Hmph… have you ever lied to your sisters for any reason?" Knuckles asked.

"Nope! Never had a reason to," Tails said cheerfully.

He turned to Silver. "Truth or dare, Silver?"

"Eh, truth," the hedgehog said.

"Let's see… if your life was made into a movie, who would be cast to play you?" Tails questioned.

Silver rolled his eyes and spread his arms dramatically. "Puh-lease. I would be cast as myself."

"Heaven forbid that we get someone who can actually act like Silver," Rouge snickered. 

The rest of us started laughing again. Silver's mouth fell open and then he pointed at the bat. "Rude! Y'know what Rouge, truth or dare?"

"Dare," she answered without hesitating.

"I dare you… to… run around the room imitating a monkey!" Silver proclaimed.

Rouge went still and blinked at him like she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "A… monkey?"

"Yep! A monkey!" Silver smirked.

Knuckles was already trying to hold back his laughter. Rouge shook her head in disbelief and stood up. She fidgeted for a second before she tucked her arms inward and started prancing around like a monkey. The rest of us started howling as she screeched and jumped up onto the nearest empty chair.

She got down and gave Silver a very long Look. "Hate you."

"The feeling is mutual," he simpered.

"Ugh. Cosmo, truth or dare?" Rouge asked.

The seedrian's face immediately turned red. Poor girl was shy enough; whatever Rouge had in store for her couldn't be good. "T… Truth…"

"Aww, you're so boring," Rouge pouted. "Fine, have you ever sang and danced in front of everyone at the grocery store?"

Cosmo looked confused. "No. Why would I do that?"

Rouge nearly facepalmed. "For fun, silly! Jeez. We need to get you out more."

"Um… Robyn, truth or dare?" Cosmo quickly turned her attention to me.

"Truth," I said, a little surprised.

"If you could be anyone in the world, who would you be?

I didn't even take a second to think about it. "Lindsey Stirling. Y'all know how talented she is."

"Hey, you're talented too," my brother said as he prodded my side.

"Oi. Maybe so but I cannot dance with a violin to save my life, much less be as flexible as she is," I said with a poke back.

He chuckled. I turned to the girl sitting next to me. "Cream, truth or dare?"

"Truth," she said.

Simple Cream. "Have you ever told a lie during this game? If you have, what was it?"

Cream made a face. "No. You guys know I'm not capable of lying."

"True dat," Silver agreed while the others nodded.

We went on for a few more rounds. Cream dared Shade to prank call Tikal (which she didn't fall for. Smart girl). Shade asked Blaze what she wanted to be when she was older (that answer being an author). Round and round and round we went, until…

"Sonic, truth or dare?" Rouge smirked.

Oh no. Here it comes. Sonic looked nervous. "Um… dare…?"

I mentally groaned. He had just played into the bat's hands. Rouge smiled widely. "I dare you to kiss the girl you really like in this room."

That got a few squeals out of the other girls. The guys all chuckled. Sonic's face turned bright red and his ears flattened against his head. "I… I don't…-"

"Tut tut, Sonic. We ALL know the girl you like is in this room. It's obvious," the bat pressed.

I felt bad for him. He was clearly being pressured to do something he didn't want to do. "Rouge, he doesn't have-"

And I was cut off by the feeling of Sonic's lips against mine.

EVERYONE cheered and clapped at the sight of this. Me, I sat there with my eyes wide and my body frozen. Sonic slowly pulled away from me and avoided my gaze by looking towards the door. My face was burning up, I could tell. I gently put my fingers to my lips, still feeling the kiss.

"What in the world-?!"

Everybody immediately shut up upon hearing that voice. We turned our heads to see Chaos standing in the doorway, eyes wide and mouth open. Behind him Shadow was standing with his arms crossed and a blank expression.

Chaos' eyes found mine. I was startled by the look in his blue orbs. It seemed… _disappointed_? Shocked, definitely. But disappointed? That confused me.

"Where in the name of all that is good and lovely have you two been?!" Silver demanded.

The others began bombarding the two brothers. Chaos didn't answer though; his eyes were still on me. Finally Shadow got impatient and shoved past his brother, fixing us all with a hard glare.

"We were at the hospital, if you must know. Maria… Maria is _dead._"

**Dun dun dun.**

**Man oh man. This chapter took me longer than I thought. I have all these ideas for this story and it's just a matter of getting from idea to idea. Sheesh.**

**Anywho, I'm an evil author. But you guys already knew that :3**

**See y'all later!**


	8. Angels Fall

_**Chaotic hedgehog: **_**Smooth :P**

**Sonic: *makes a face***

**THE ICE CREAM WILL HAPPEN :'D**

***snickers* Yes, truth or dare.**

**The ship WILL be fine… eventually.**

***backs away* Please don't kill me.**

_Chapter Seven_

In all of my time of being friends with Shadow the Hedgehog, I had NEVER seen him like this.

I mean, he was _Shadow_ the freaking _hedgehog_. The most bad-ass, no-nonsense, straight-faced guy I knew. If someone messed with him or anyone he cared about, that someone was going to wish that they had never been born. A good example would be, yet again, Scourge. Back in seventh grade, Scourge tried to get Amy to do… let's just say not appropriate things. Shadow found out when Amy showed up on his front porch crying her eyes out, and he went ballistic. The next thing we knew, Scourge came to school a few days later with two black eyes, shorter quills, and a broken arm.

Knowing this, and seeing Shadow as he was at that moment, confused me.

And then his words registered in my brain.

"Maria is… gone?" I whispered.

The room was silent. Kelly already had tears sliding down her face. Amy walked over to Shadow and buried her face in his chest. Everyone else was looking at each other- except Chaos. He was still looking at me with that same expression of shock and disappointment. I frowned at him, trying to read him. I didn't understand it.

Finally, Tails broke the silence. "What… happened?"

That seemed to snap Chaos out of it. He looked at my brother, and then at everyone else. "We came home from school and she was curled up on the couch. Said she was in great discomfort. It got so bad that we rushed her to the hospital… the doctors got her all hooked up to the IVs and everything…"

"Somehow the stuff they were giving her wasn't working… if anything it seemed to make it worse," Shadow said quietly.

"She… she passed out while one of the doctors was trying to change her IV… she never woke back up," Chaos finished as he clenched his fists.

He looked at me with watery eyes. "I turned my phone off while we were driving to the hospital. Shadow left his on the kitchen counter, so…"

"I understand…" I murmured.

More silence. The cheerful mood of the evening had been zapped, just like that. Chaos' eyes were back on me again, and I didn't get why. A frown crossed his lips as he looked at Sonic. Then he looked to me again.

"Care to explain what we walked in on?" he asked.

"Truth or dare," I muttered as I felt my face grow warm.

He gave me a single nod and eyed Sonic for a moment. The blue speedster was still kinda red in the face and was deliberately avoiding our gazes. Chaos smirked to himself before claiming a spot at the other end of the couch. Shadow was still standing in the doorway, his crimson eyes locked on me.

"Robyn, can I speak to you for a minute?" he asked.

My ears twitched. "Uh… sure."

I stood up and followed him out into the hallway. Once we were out of earshot, he turned to me. "Maria asked about you in her final moments…"

"… Oh. W-What did she say?" I asked.

The ebony hedgehog slid a finger under my chin and tilted it up slightly, forcing me to look him straight in the eye. "She said that you better make sure you see what is in front of you before someone tries to fill your head with meaningless feelings."

I blinked. "… What?"

"Chaos, being the oblivious one, completely missed it and thought she was just rambling. However, I know my sister. And I know what- or rather, who- she was talking about."

"Shadow, I'm gonna have to side with Chaos. I don't think she meant anything by it… it doesn't make any sense."

He sighed and patted my head. "Oblivious."

**-XxXxX-**

The funeral was held the day before Thanksgiving. Kinda sucky timing, but the hospital was anxious to have Maria's body out of there. It was a quiet affair- the gang was there, plus my sisters, Tikal, and Chaos's stepsister Nina. Her twin Sierra didn't make an appearance, but that was to be expected. She didn't like anyone- not even her own family. I had met her a few times before and we hadn't gotten along at all, especially when she made fun of my brother. She reminded me too much of Fiona in that regard.

Nina came to greet me once the others had dispersed into their own conversations. "What's up, little bird?"

I laughed slightly. She had picked up on Shadow's nickname for me. "Not much, Nina, not much… you?"

"Not much either. I just finished up my finals and heard about Maria…" A pained expression crossed Nina's features. "I still can't believe it."

"Me neither." My eyes began to water, and not for the first time that day. "I'm sorry you had to come home to this."

"It's not your fault, Robyn. It was just Maria's time," the cat said.

"Still… I wish I could have done something," I murmured.

Nina smiled teasingly. "Robyn Prower, always trying to save the world."

"Hah. So… how's school going?"

"Eh. I've had an easy semester. You?"

"Me too, thank Chaos above."

She chuckled. "Word on the street is that you've finally got a boy toy."

"… The others told you about Sonic," I sighed.

"Yep! So, details. Now."

"There's nothing to tell, Nina. Sonic is a new friend and everyone is convinced that he likes me."

Nina grinned. "I met him earlier. Nice enough guy. I have to agree with the others, he likes you."

"Not you too!" I groaned.

"Come _on_, Robyn! The second I mentioned your name, his eyes lit up and his face turned pink. He started asking me questions about you- some stuff that only I would know," the cat said.

I felt my ears flatten. "Like what?"

"Well… mostly about you and Chaos. He was very curious about your relationship."

"Chaos is my best friend." My tone came out a bit more defensive than I wanted.

"No one would deny that," Nina said as she put her hands up in surrender. "But Sonic is nervous about asking you out because of Chaos."

I thought about Sally Acorn. "You think Chaos likes me too."

"No." Nina started to grin as she placed an arm around my shoulders. "I _know_ my brother is head over heels in love with you. You may not see it, and knowing Chaos he doesn't realize it. However, I can assure you… if you go out with Sonic, my brother will come to his senses."

"Maybe," Shadow said as he appeared next to us.

Nina playfully swatted his head. "Don't be such a Debbie Downer."

I chuckled. "I'll leave you two to your sibling antics."

I gave them a wave and walked away. Mostly everyone was gathered near the big cherry blossom tree that we had buried Maria under. Chaos and Sonic were standing off to the side talking in hushed tones. I was going to leave them to their conversation (Nina's words were still ringing in my ears), but Chaos waved me over. "Robyn!"

"What's up?" I asked as I forced my feet to head in their direction.

"Did Zoey bring her drums?" he questioned.

I remembered that Zoey had insisted on packing her drums into the car that morning, and she wouldn't tell us why. And yes, my sister played drums. She was surprisingly good at it. "Yes…?"

Chaos beamed. "Good. All we need now is Shadow."

"Why? What are you plotting?" I wondered.

"You'll see," Sonic said with a grin.

The two of them walked over to my red-furred sister and Sonic tapped her on the shoulder. She nodded at both of them, waved to get Shadow's attention, and then the four of them walked over to Alustriel's car. I looked at everyone else, who all looked curious as to what was happening. Tails gave me a shrug as I came over to him. "Don't ask me."

"Wasn't going to," I said.

"What are they up to?" Silver asked.

"Don't know," I answered.

Nina smiled knowingly. We all looked at her, but she shook her head and pointed to them. Shadow was helping Zoey get her drums out of the car, his guitar case strapped to his back. Sonic also had a guitar case on his back, and Chaos was moving the drums to a spot nearby. Alustriel walked over to give him a hand as Shadow pulled the last piece out of the trunk. He closed the trunk and helped Zoey move it over to where Chaos was standing. Sonic unpacked his guitar and started tuning.

Once they were all set up, Chaos faced the rest of us. "I want to dedicate a song to Maria, probably the greatest sister I could have asked for… uh, no offense Nina. I still love you."

She laughed. "I understand."

"Anyway, Maria listened to this song on repeat the past couple of months. I caught Shadow learning to play it one time, and it gave me the idea to perform it at Maria's funeral. So I called up Sonic and Zoey and told them about it, and thank my namesake they agreed to do it." A smile curled Chaos's lips. "So to Maria Robotnik, the girl who put everyone else before herself. Kind, gentle, smart, and all-around amazing… I miss you, sis."

A couple of people were already crying by the end of his mini speech. I caught his eye and gave him a thumbs up. If Maria had heard this, she would've been crying too. Shadow cleared his throat and stepped up next to his brother. "Wherever you are, Maria, I hope you're enjoying yourself. No pain, no exhaustion, just the feeling of being free. We'll see you again someday."

_Aww, Shadow…_ I grinned at him when he looked in my direction.

Zoey tossed a drumstick in the air, caught it, and smiled. "Ready, boys?"

"Absolutely. For Maria… this is 'Angels Fall', by Breaking Benjamin," Chaos said.

Sonic started the first note. His guitar was dark purple with white in the middle (don't judge me for my lack of description- I don't know all the parts of a guitar). Then Shadow joined in (his guitar was black and red. Fitting, right?), along with Zoey, and the three of them synched up perfectly. The rhythm and the echoing of the notes made me shiver. Finally, Chaos began to sing.

_I tried to face the fight within  
But it's over  
I'm ready for the riot to begin and surrender  
I walked the path, it led me to the end, remember  
I'm caught beneath with nothing left to give, forever_

Sonic and Shadow opened their mouths to join Chaos in the chorus.

_(Chorus)_

_When angels fall with broken wings  
I can't give up, I can't give in  
When all is lost and daylight ends  
I'll carry you and we will live forever, forever…_

_(end chorus)_

Chaos walked over to Maria's headstone and placed his hand on it. He closed his eyes and kneeled down in front of it.

_Grey skies will chase the light away, no longer  
I fought the fight, now only dark remains… forever_

_Divided I will stand  
And I will let this end!_

He stood up straight and teleported back to the others. He stood next to Zoey and watched as she twirled her drumsticks between her fingers.

_(repeat chorus)_

Chaos walked back over to Sonic and Shadow as they slowed down on their strumming. They both nodded at him and joined him in the next verse of the song.

_The sun begins to rise and wash away the sky  
The turning of the tide, don't leave it all behind  
And I will never say goodbye…_

Both guitarists faded out at the "goodbye", leaving Zoey to play a mini solo and Chaos to start singing the chorus again.

_When angels fall with broken wings  
I can't give up, I can't give in…!_

Sonic and Shadow both started back up right there.

_When all is lost and daylight ends  
I'll carry you and we will live forever, forever…_

_Forever, forever…!_

Shadow played the last couple of notes and held it for a few seconds before letting it fade away. Silver started the applause, and everyone else followed. Sonic and Zoey were beaming, Chaos smiled faintly, and Shadow held his usual stoic expression.

I'm pretty sure that when I looked up, I saw the outline of Maria. She was smiling and had her hands clasped together. As the wind began to gently blow, she mouthed something to me before I blinked.

Then she was gone.

**-XxXxX-**

"Nina can you pass the turkey?" I asked.

"You mean the last piece? Here," Nina laughed.

"How is the turkey gone already? Usually we have leftovers for weeks," Chaos said.

Tails did a quick head count. "There are seven of us, and I'm pretty sure Robyn ate most of the turkey."

"… Right."

I nommed the last piece of turkey thoughtfully after giving my brother a Look. "… Is there any pie left?"

"Yes, there's a whole pie left. Alussie put it in the fridge," Zoey said.

My blue-furred sister appeared in the doorway at that moment with said pie. "You want a piece?"

"Yup."

"Seriously, Robyn. How are you still hungry, and how the heck do you manage to eat so much and remain so scrawny?" Chaos demanded.

"Scrawny? Really?" I rolled my eyes. "I don't know."

"Dad was the same way," Zoey said truthfully.

A brief pause came over the room. Alustriel placed the piece of pie on my plate and quickly left the room. Shadow looked up from his book and made eye contact with Nina. Tails looked at me and shrugged. "Zoey is right… remember when we took that family vacation to Emerald Coast one summer and we ate at that one fancy restaurant?"

"Chez Moraine? Yeah. Dad ordered the ginormous steak with a side salad, mashed potatoes, and sweet corn. He polished all of it off, as well as my filet mignon and brown rice," Zoey said with a faint smile.

"And then he ordered that chocolate cake for dessert," I remembered with a giggle.

"Now I'm hungry," Chaos mumbled.

Nina looked at her brother with an _Are you serious?_ face. "We got through Thanksgiving dinner like two hours ago, and you gave Robyn a hard time about still being hungry."

"But she's still eating, and I'm not!" Chaos protested.

"Oi, leave me out of this!" I said through a mouthful of pie.

Alustriel came back into the room and held up my cell phone. "Sonic called. He's waiting to talk to you."

I stood up and took my phone. "Thanks Ace. Be right back, guys."

I walked into the kitchen and held my phone up to my ear. "Hello?"

"_Hey, Robyn… it's Sonic,_" the hedgehog said.

"Hi! What's up?"

"_Not much, I just finished Thanksgiving dinner with my family. You?_"

"Ah, we've done for a few hours. Now we're sitting in the living room with Chaos, Shadow, and Nina."

"_... Oh. They're there?_"

"Yeah. We typically combine the big holidays with them since our families are so small. Plus, y'know, we practically are family."

"_O-Oh. Cool._" Sonic sounded a little… relieved? "_Anyway, I called because I wanted to ask you something._"

"Yeah? What's that?"

"_This may sound a little weird, but… um… would you mind meeting me at the mall tomorrow? I need help doing some Christmas shopping._"

"You realize tomorrow is Black Friday, right? The mall is gonna be packed."

"_I know… but please? I'll take you to lunch afterward, my treat._"

I let out a little sigh and smiled. "All right. I'm in."

"_You're awesome. I'll pick you up tomorrow morning at nine._"

"Don't wanna brave the 3am crowds?" I teased.

"_Heeeeeeeeeeellllll no. I went with my sister one year and it was awful. I can tell you the story tomorrow,_" Sonic chuckled.

"Deal. I'll see you tomorrow then."

"_See ya, Robyn._"

I hung up and turned around to see Chaos walking in. He eyed me for a few seconds before refilling his glass with apple juice. "What did Faker want?"

I gave him a Look. "Really? It's bad enough that Shadow is calling him that, now you too?"

"Sorry. Kinda became a habit since Shadow says it every time he sees Sonic." Chaos took a sip of his juice. "Well?"

"Sonic asked me to meet him at the mall for some Black Friday shopping," I answered.

My red-quilled friend stopped mid-sip to stare at me. "And you said yes?"

"… Yeah…?"

"But… Robyn… don't you remember what tomorrow is? We always spend the night and then spend all of Black Friday making fun of people who go do their shopping, then we watch movies all afternoon and do nothing," Chaos said.

"Come on, Chaos. You're still spending the night tonight. Besides he said he would pick me up at nine tomorrow morning, so I imagine we'll only be a couple hours. Then I'll be back and we can continue the tradition," I explained.

Chaos pouted. "I don't like breaking the tradition, darn it."

I gave him a long Look. "It's only gonna be a few hours. I promise."

"… Fine. Text me when you're done, okay?" he asked.

I nodded eagerly. "I will. Now let's go beat Nina and Tails at Go Fish."

"You realize I'm gonna beat you too, right?"

"Pfft, yeah right!"


	9. Black Friday

**Note: I haven't made any kind of announcements or anything for this story, but I am dedicating this chapter to Strife the Dark 152 and Chaotic Hedgehog who both had birthdays recently. Happy belated birthday guys- I love you both! :D**

_**Chaotic hedgehog:**_** Crunchy peanut butter is amazing.**

**WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! :3**

**I am trying as hard as I can! :P**

**Yes it does. *pets Shadow***

**Shadow: *petted, scoots away***

***sues Chaos* :P**

**It is an awesome song :D I've been listening to it on repeat.**

**Pfffft, Robyn is me when it comes to shopping. "Scared, hedgehog?" **

***also pets Chaos* It gets worse before it gets better. Wait, I don't think that helps…**

_**Addicted disclaimer:**_** Strife the Dark belongs to Strife the Dark 152.**

_Chapter Eight_

"ROBYN! SONIC IS HERE!" Alustriel called from downstairs.

I slowly opened my eyes. "… Huhh…?"

I saw Chaos sitting on the edge of my bed, still in the shorts and t shirt he had slept in. "Sonic just pulled up. Better get going, sunshine."

It took a few seconds for my brain to process this, and then I was instantly alert. "Shit!"

I practically threw myself out of bed and looked to Chaos frantically. "Can you stall him for like 10 minutes while I shower?"

He sighed and waved a hand at me before leaving the room. Within seconds I was turning the water on for my shower and hopping inside. I washed myself quickly and was out within several minutes. I dried myself off with my favorite blue towel, smoothed my fur down, and got dressed. I decided on my favorite dark blue jeans, a black sweatshirt that said **"Violinist: will play for chocolate"** in bold white letters, and my TARDIS-blue converse. I put on Sapphira's necklace, grabbed my wallet, and ran downstairs.

"Hey Robyn," Sonic greeted.

"Morning. Sorry for the delay. I kinda ignored my alarm clock," I explained.

"It's all good. Chaos said that you were getting ready," the blue hedgehog smiled.

My red-quilled friend was sitting at the table picking at a blueberry muffin. His mouth was set in a thin line, and it immediately made me worry. Was something wrong? I grabbed a blueberry muffin for myself and tried to lock eyes with Chaos. He gazed back at me and shook his head slightly. It was Chaos talk for _"Don't worry about it."_

"We better get going. I don't wanna be there all day," Sonic said, thus pulling me from my thoughts.

"Right. Right. Chaos, I'll text you when I'm on my way back. Okay?"

"Sure."

Sneaking a last glance at him over my shoulder, I followed Sonic outside. For late November, the weather was pretty decent outside. A little bit windy, but my phone said that it was only about forty degrees outside with the sun shining above us. I got into the passenger's seat of Sonic's sports car (which was ridiculously fast and suited him perfectly) and we pulled out of the driveway. Zoey waved to me from the living room window, as did Tails and Shadow, and I managed a small wave before they disappeared from view.

"Sleep okay?" Sonic asked.

"Kind of. We went to bed late because Shadow and Chaos were determined to beat each other at Mario Kart."

"Hah. I'd like to take them on sometime. I was king of Mario Kart back home."

"What was Knothole like?" I asked curiously.

"It was quiet. Pretty much a small town. I was born there, raised there, and thought I'd spend the rest of my life there. Then my mom got a new job a few months back up here in Station Square. At first she made my siblings and I stay in Knothole, and she would travel back and forth between here and there. But the drive got to be too much, so one day she bought a house here and we all moved," Sonic said.

"I can't imagine leaving Station Square like that… especially after everything my family has been through. You've got a lot of courage, dude," I said.

He smiled. "Thanks. That means a lot. People used to say that I got it from my dad. He was the bravest man I ever knew."

"I wish I could've gotten to meet him."

"He would've liked you. I know he would've. My mom and my siblings already like you and they haven't even met you yet."

"You talk a lot about me then, huh?" I teased.

He turned a light shade of pink. "Well… yeah… I told them all about my first day and how I hit you in the face with a basketball, and how musically talented you are, and how you have such an awesome brother and awesome sisters…"

I laughed. "I do, don't I?"

He chuckled. "Yep."

"You seriously told them about the basketball incident though?"

"Yeah. My sister picked me up from school that day, and Silver happened to be passing by. He made a comment about it before walking off, so naturally I had to explain to Sonia what happened. Then she made me retell it at dinner."

"Well… at least it made for an interesting first day."

Before he could respond, I pointed at the upcoming traffic light. "Oh, if you turn left here, you can take a short-cut to get to the back entrance of the mall. It's better than getting on the highway because the mall exit there is always under some kind of construction."

"Cool. Thanks."

**-XxXxX-**

"Well, we've been to JC Penny's, Macy's, Sears, Bath and Body Works… anywhere else you wanna go?" I asked.

"Let's hit the food court before we go anywhere else. I'm starving, and I'm sure you are too since you really didn't get to eat this morning," Sonic answered.

My stomach growled in response. "No complaints here."

Sonic went to the chili dog stand while I decided on some Mexican food. Nothing wrong with a good ol' burrito stuffed with chicken, rice, cheese, and tomatoes. I got a side of chips and salsa, a coke, and a handful of napkins before sitting down at the nearest table. The chili dog stand was two spots away from the Mexican place, so Sonic had no problem spotting me when he had his food.

"Dude. That dog is huge!" I exclaimed as he sat down.

It really was huge. It was about the size of my head, topped with chili and cheese. Beside it sat a bag of plain potato chips and a coke. Sonic chuckled as he picked it up and bit into it. He chewed, swallowed, and grinned at me. "And it's really good."

"I'll take your word for it," I said as I dipped a tortilla chip into my salsa.

My phone suddenly buzzed in my pocket. I tugged it out and glanced at the screen. To my surprise, I had a text from Kelly's friend Xavier. I had met him several times before when I had gone to Angel Island with the echidna family, and we were pretty good friends. He knew he could come to me for anything Kelly-related, so I figured that it was important.

**Xavier: Hi Robyn! Hope you're able to get back to me as soon as humanly possible. I have something to ask you.**

**Robyn: Hey kid! I'm eating right now but I have a little bit of time. What's up?**

**Xavier: Ooh, food sounds good right now. XD anyway, do you guys have school on Monday?**

**Robyn: Yeah. We have to go back from Thanksgiving break. Why?**

**Xavier: Weeeeeeeeeeelllllllll…..**

**Robyn: Dude. Don't keep me in suspense. :P**

**Xavier: Haha, sorry. Couldn't resist. So I actually have the next month off of school because of somebody blowing up the science hall and the gym.**

**Robyn: WHAT!? What the heck happened?!**

**Xavier: Nobody knows. It happened yesterday, so thankfully no one was there. But now they've gotta redo the hall and the gym which is gonna take about 3 and a half weeks, and by then we're all gonna be on Winter break. So the principal sent out an email this morning saying that we're now on break early. We don't have to be back until after the start of the New Year.**

**Robyn: I'm glad no one was hurt. But I wish something like that would happen here… xD I feel kinda bad saying that. So what are you gonna do in the mean time?**

**Xavier: I'm coming up on Monday to see Kelly, that's what.**

**Robyn: :O DUDE! She'll be so excited to see you! Does she know?**

**Xavier: Nope. It's gonna be a surprise. Which is why I wanted to ask you if you could get her out of class early? I'll be there roughly around 1:15 with Strife, if you remember him.**

**Robyn: Strife's coming too!?**

**Xavier: Yup. **

**Robyn: Weeeellllllll I probably can, but you better check with Knuckles and Tikal first. Tikal is gonna have to send a note in excusing Kelly from class before I can take over.**

**Xavier: I've already called her, and she's talked to Knuckles. :D**

**Robyn: Awesome! Then consider it done! I shall see you Monday at 1:15!**

**Xavier: YAY! See ya then!**

"Who on Mobius are you texting?"

I looked up from my phone and grinned. "Xavier."

Sonic cocked his head to the side. "That's Kelly's friend, right? From back home?"

"Yep. He's coming up on Monday to see her, and he wants me to help surprise her!" I squealed.

"That's awesome!" Sonic beamed.

I squirmed with excitement. "Can't believe I'm saying this, but I can't wait for Monday!"

Sonic laughed. "We gotta get through the rest of the weekend first. You ready to go?"

I looked at my empty plate. "Yup."

"Cool. I only wanna make one more stop before we leave. It's already 2 o'clock."

My eyes widened. "It's already 2!? How?"

"Considering the size of the lines in the stores today, yeah it's already 2. Remember we spent an hour in Macy's and in Sears solely because of the lines," Sonic said.

"True… true… I should probably text Chaos to let him know."

"Why?"

"I told him we'd only be a couple hours. See, he and I kind of have a Black Friday tradition and I've already broken it by leaving the house today. We usually stay in and watch movies all day."

"So you went out today instead of staying in. Big deal. You did it to help a friend. Besides, you still have the rest of the day and tomorrow to watch movies."

"True…"

Sonic smiled faintly. "I don't mean to poke fun at your tradition. I really don't."

"I know. And you have a point. I'm sure he'll be fine," I said as I put my phone away.

"Okay. TO THE CANDY SHOP!"

I laughed as I followed him over to the candy shop. The place had every kind of candy imaginable, and then some. My favorites were the giant chocolate balls filled with crushed Oreos, as well as the dark chocolate sea salt caramel teddy bears. I started drooling at the thought of them.

Before we had even stepped in the door, my eyes wandered to the jewelry shop across the way. It wasn't one of those big brand jewelry places, but it did have the same kind of quality in stones. In the window of the shop was a pretty diamond bracelet. The diamonds were in the shape of various music notes, and they were connected by a shiny platinum band. My thoughts about chocolate forgotten, I walked over to look at the bracelet some more. It was absolutely beautiful.

"I see a musical soul has discovered our special bracelet today," a voice said from the doorway.

I turned to look at the sales clerk, a female Husky with a nice uniform. Black pants, a grey dress shirt, and her fur neatly groomed. "How did you know that I was a 'musical soul'?"

"There is an aura about you, my friend. Something about you screams music." She studied me for a moment. "You go to Chaos High, do you not?"

"I-I do. I play violin for the orchestra," I said.

She smiled. "I have heard of you then. Your teacher, Miss Hallowcloak, is prepping you for the show in which you shall play 'Shatter Me'. I am one of the judges for that show."

My eyes widened. "Really?!"

"Yes. I am quite looking forward to it. Now, about this bracelet… it is actually on sale today. I think it would fit you perfectly. Would you like to see?"

I nodded, speechless. The clerk stepped back inside and removed the bracelet from the window display. She motioned for me to come inside, which I did. As soon as I came over to her she unclipped the bracelet and fastened it around my wrist. She was right- it did fit perfectly.

"Wow," I whispered.

"Absolutely beautiful… for you, I will mark it further down in price. You are looking at about $350," the clerk said.

My stomach lurched. "$350, huh…?"

"You are also able to put it on layaway, if you cannot afford it today," she said quickly.

"How much would I have to put down for that?" My thoughts went to my wallet, which was in the pocket of my sweatshirt.

"$25.99."

"Okay… that I can do."

She brought me to the front counter and quickly arranged the transaction. "I will hold this for you until New Year's eve at this discounted price. Once January 1st begins, it will go back up to its sale price of $675."

My heart stopped. "That's the _sale_ price?"

"Yes. And it is only on sale until January 15th. Its original price is $1,130."

Holy shit. "These are quality diamonds, then?"

"Yes. My father, who is the owner of this store, personally mined and inspected them himself."

"Wow… okay… I will do my best to bring in the remaining $324 before New Year's eve then."

"That sounds wonderful. Have a nice day."

I thanked her and left the shop, feeling a mix of emotions. I wanted that bracelet more than anything. However I didn't make that kind of money easily. With my allowance of $20 a week, it would take me roughly four months to earn the $324. By then, it would be back to its sale price.

_There's gotta be a way to earn the money. Maybe I should ask Alustriel when I get home,_ I thought as I walked back into the candy shop.

"There you are. Where did you go?" Sonic asked as he came out of the shop.

"I was looking at this bracelet over there. Sonic, you should see it. It's absolutely gorgeous. The clerk was nice enough to discount it for me, but I had to put it on layaway. I've only got until December 31st to come up with the remaining money or I'll never be able to afford it before someone else buys it," I moaned.

"You really wanted it, huh?" he asked.

I nodded. "I do. When I get home I'm going to ask Alustriel if there's anything I can do to earn some extra money for the next month."

"Well, I wish you luck Robyn. By the way, the candy shop has those teddy bears you like on sale. I think it was five for $10."

"Seriously?! I'm gonna go get me some!"

**-XxXxX-**

"Thanks for the help today, Robyn. I really appreciate it," Sonic said as we pulled into his driveway.

"You're welcome. Thanks for inviting me," I smiled.

He parked his car and looked into the back seat. "Now I gotta get these to my room without my family seeing them. Would you mind distracting them for me?"

"O-Oh." Meeting Sonic's family… was I ready for that? "Are you sure there's no other way around it?"

He laughed. "Robyn, they won't bite. Trust me, they've been wanting to meet you."

"… Okay. Fine."

"Sweet."

He got out of the car and walked up to the door, motioning for me to follow him. I got out as well and stood behind him awkwardly. He unlocked the door and stepped inside. "I'm home!"

"About time, little bro! I want my rematch at Mario Kart!" someone yelled from the living room.

"Well, I was busy! I had plans! By the way, Manic, there's someone here you have been wanting to meet," Sonic said.

Manic turned around. He was a green hedgehog with messy quills (and when I say messy, I mean MESSY). They stuck up everywhere, even worse than Silver's. He had four piercings in his left ear and was only wearing a pair of black sweatpants. His eyes fixed on me and a grin curled his lips. "You must be Robyn! HEY MA! SONIA! SONIC HAS FINALLY BROUGHT ROBYN OVER!"

"WHAT!?"

Two female hedgehogs immediately scurried out of the kitchen. One had magenta quills and a puff of magenta bangs. She was really pretty- she was wearing a white v-neck shirt and black shorts. Simple, but she made the outfit look classy. She had to be Sonia, Sonic's sister. The other was older, and had purple quills. She was wearing a blue nightgown that came to the floor. She could only be Sonic's mother, Aleena.

She immediately _tsk_ed at Sonic. "Why didn't you warn me you were bringing her over? I would have made myself look decent!"

"Mom, you look fine. Right Robyn?" Sonic asked me.

"Uh, yep! I love that color!" I exclaimed.

A smile grew on Aleena's face. She twirled around. "I'm glad you think so."

"So you're the famous Robyn? It's nice to finally meet you." Sonia walked over and took my hand. "My brother never stops talking about you."

"So I've heard," I laughed.

"It's true! From day one, it was 'Robyn this' and 'Robyn that'. He's got the hots for you, it's obvious," Manic said as he stood up.

"Manic!" Aleena scolded.

"What?! You have been saying the same thing, ma!"

"That's not the point! Don't embarrass the poor girl!"

"I think it's a little too late for that," Sonia chuckled.

My face was pretty warm. "Um…"

"Come, sit. Sonia and I just finished making chocolate chip cookies," Aleena said as she led me over to the table.

A quick glance behind me showed that Sonic was taking the opportunity to run his shopping up into his room. His family hadn't noticed his absence; they were too busy fussing over me. I felt slightly uncomfortable by all the attention, but I kept quiet. I wanted to make a good impression. Sonia offered me a warm cookie and I bit into it. "… Oh my god. These are amazing!"

Aleena's smile widened. "It's a family recipe."

"I think my sister Alustriel may have some competition," I laughed.

"Sonic's talked about your siblings. You have two sisters and a brother, right?" Sonia asked.

"Yeah. Tails is younger, and Zoey and Alustriel are older," I explained.

"I've heard quite a bit about Zoey." Manic took a drumstick from his pocket and started a beat on the table. "She drums too, right?"

"Yep."

A smirk crossed his lips. "I'll have to challenge her sometime. See who's better."

"Unless you have been playing since the age of three, she'll wipe the floor with you," I declared.

His smirk grew. "I have been."

"… Well crap."

Sonic came back in, giving me a slight glance to indicate that he had finished. "What?"

"Nothing. Just that Zoey may have a rival in drumming now," I laughed.

"Yeah, well. What can you do?" He smiled. "Ready to go?"

"Does she have to leave?! I've been waiting forever to meet this girl!" Sonia complained.

I laughed again. "I guess I can stay a while longer…"

**-XxXxX-**

That following Monday, I couldn't stop smiling the entire day. It was going to be awesome to see the look on Kelly's face when she witnessed her surprise. I kept looking at the clock all day, impatiently waiting for 1:15 to roll around. Sonic kept chuckling every time he saw my eyes wander to the wall. He understood my excitement.

Finally, the moment arrived. I nodded to Mr. Turner, who gave me a wink in return (he was well aware of what was going to happen). Then I turned to Kelly and tapped her on the shoulder. "Come with me for a minute."

"Why?" she asked as she looked up from her writing assignment.

"Just follow me. Please. It's important. Bring your stuff with you."

With a confused expression she gathered her things together and stood up, looking to Mr. Turner. The porcupine waved a hand at her, indicating it was okay. The blue echidna looked back at me, trying to ignore several whispers around us about what was going on. I quickly snuck a glance at Sonic and he gave me a thumbs up, mouthing "Good luck" as I led Kelly to the door.

"Where are we going?" Kelly asked as we walked down the hallway.

"You'll see," I answered with a mischievous grin.

Kelly pouted. "Robyn…!"

"I have an emergency, okay? I need you with me."

"Why? What's wrong?"

Crap. I quickly thought of an excuse. "I, uh… jammed the trunk of my car this morning. My violin is in it, and I need it for next period. I asked Mr. Turner if I could try to get it out and if you could come help me."

Kelly shrugged. "Okay… but why didn't you ask one of the guys to help?"

"You ask a lot of questions, missy," I said while I poked her nose.

"You would too if your best friend was acting weird," she protested.

I pretended to be offended. "I am not being weird!"

The blue echidna held her hands up in surrender and went quiet. We went past the main office and out into the parking lot. I quickly scanned the lot for Shadow's car and smiled to myself when I saw it. They were here somewhere. I had given them a description of my own car so they were probably hiding somewhere near it.

"Why do you have that goofy grin on your face?" Kelly asked me.

"My grin is not goofy! I'm just happy. It's a good day," I responded.

"Oooooookay, then."

We arrived at my car and I dug my keys out of my pocket. I stuck the key in the trunk and pretended to have trouble opening it. "Geez. What the hell did I get stuck in here?"

"Hopefully not something important, like your sanity," Kelly quipped.

I slowly turned around and gave her a stare. "You're mean."

"You're being weird."

"Am not!"

"Are too! Here, let me try."

She took over and opened my trunk with ease. "… It's not jammed, you dummy. What gives?"

I smiled at her. She eyed me suspiciously. "Your violin isn't in here either. Why am I out here in the cold?"

Her mouth suddenly dropped open and she pointed an accusing finger at me. "Did Fiona brainwash you and now you're gonna try and kidnap me?!"

"Wow, Kelly. You have quite the imagination. Nice to see that nothing has changed from your letters," a deep voice said with amusement.

My smile got even wider as Kelly's eyes widened. She slowly turned around to see a black hedgehog with pale blue streaks in his quills and green reptilian-like eyes. He wore white gloves with a black circle in the palm, plain black shoes, a dark grey sweatshirt, and jeans. He smiled faintly and spread his arms out for her. "Then again I really shouldn't expect anything less."

"STRIFE! ! !" Kelly squealed as she ran over and tackled him.

With an "Oof", he accepted her hug. "Hey kiddo."

"What are you doing here!?" the echidna asked eagerly.

Strife chuckled. "No reason. I'm not the only one here to see you though."

Kelly blinked. "Who…?"

"KELLY!" a voice suddenly yelled happily.

The poor echidna just about had a heart attack upon hearing that. Her eyes got even wider and she turned to see a yellow-furred cat with blue eyes and leaf-like ears. He was wearing a similar outfit to Strife (which I didn't blame him- it was cold outside) and he had a huge grin on his face. "Kelly, Kelly, Kelly!"

"XAVIER! ! ! ! !" the echidna screamed with glee.

The two practically ran each other over in their attempt at a glomp. I couldn't help but laugh as they hugged each other tight. Xavier managed to lift Kelly off of the ground and swing her around in his arms. Strife crossed his arms, chuckled, and looked at me. "You weren't kidding."

"Pfft, nope. I told you she would be beyond excited," I grinned.

"What are you guys doing here?!" Kelly squealed when Xavier finally put her back down. She started hopping up and down with excitement as she looked to Strife.

"We've got a month off school now because some caudex managed to blow up half the science hall AND the gym. So Xavier messaged me the other day and asked if I wanted to accompany him on a road trip to see you," Strife explained.

Xavier beamed. "I haven't been able to see you since you started senior year, which sucks because I didn't get to celebrate your birthday with you, and I really didn't want to wait for Christmas, so here we are!"

Kelly squealed again and hugged them both. "Does Knuckles know you guys are here?"

"Yep. He said we were welcome to the two guest rooms," Strife grinned.

I seriously thought Kelly was gonna faint right then and there. She was practically bouncing now. "SWEET CHAOS ABOVE, THIS IS AWESOME! ! !"

She looked at me. "But how do you play into this, Robyn?"

"Xavier texted me on Friday when I was at the mall with Sonic, asking if I could help them surprise you. He told me when they were gonna get to town, so I told them to come here and I would get you pulled out of class for the rest of the day," I said with a smile. 

"… Does Tikal know about this?"

"Yep. She sent a note in this morning with Knuckles saying that you had some friends from out of town coming to visit so I was to escort you out when the time came."

Kelly looked like she was gonna start crying tears of happiness. Xavier pulled her into a side hug and ruffled her dreads. "Whaddya say, Kels? Let's get out of here! We have a car!"

"Shadow let me borrow his car so we could get back to your place. He's gonna come get it later," Strife explained at the questioning look on Kelly's face.

Kelly pulled a face. "You're friends with Shadow?"

"Don't start. Be glad he's being helpful," I scolded teasingly.

Strife rolled his eyes. "I'm not even gonna ask. Anyway, Kels, there's someone I want you to meet. We have to go get her first."

"Oh! OH! Is it who I think it is?!" she questioned.

"Yep."

"YAY!"

I chuckled and waved. "Have fun guys. I will come by later, if that's all right."

"Sure! It's been a long while since I've seen you. We have some catching up to do," Strife said.

"Awesome. Later!"

The three of them walked off to Shadow's car, talking and laughing. I smiled to myself as I turned around to walk back to class. As I came up to the doors Chaos appeared in front of me. I stopped, surprised. "Hey."

"Where's Kelly?" he asked.

"She just left with Xavier and Strife. They came up to see her," I explained.

He stared at me. "I didn't know that."

"She didn't tell you?"

"No. And apparently neither did you."

His tone made me blink. "Huh?"

"How come you knew about this?"

"Xavier texted me on Friday asking if I could help surprise her…"

He frowned. "Friday… let me guess, that was when you were at Sonic's. Until who knows when."

"No… this was while I was at the mall with him."

He rolled his eyes. I stared at him. "What is your issue…?"

"Gee, I don't know Robyn. Why don't you figure it out?" he snapped.

Whoa. "What did I do?"

"Let me give your brain a reminder: Friday. Tradition. Your promise to text me on your way home, and to only be gone a few hours."

Uh oh. I reflected back to Friday: hanging out with Sonic's family for longer than I intended. Sonic dropping me off sometime after 8pm. With a panic I realized that I never texted Chaos back. I had gone up into my room and had fallen asleep without even thinking about him that night. Sunday Zoey had taken me out to go grocery shopping for the week and I had texted only Xavier and Sonic all day.

My ears flattened. "… Oops."

"Yeah. Oops."

"Chaos, I'm sorry. It wasn't intentional. Sonic's family wanted to meet me, that's all."

He squinted at me for a few minutes, and then turned to walk away. Before he could get far, I grabbed his wrist. "Dude, I said I was sorry."

He mumbled something under his breath before tugging away. As he disappeared around the corner, I stood there speechless.

Why?

Because I was pretty sure he had said "This wasn't the first time".


	10. Realization

Chapter Nine

Have you ever felt completely conflicted, reader? Especially if the source of the confliction was your best friend, who was making you feel like you were strangers to each other?

That's how I felt, watching Chaos go back to class. I was stunned, and frankly quite baffled by what he meant. This wasn't the first time… what? What had he been trying to get at?

I was so upset trying to figure it out that my head started pounding. Since I had my stuff with me and I was near my locker, I called Alustriel and asked if she could come get me. I only had Orchestra and Gym left, and I knew Miss Hallowcloak could manage without me for one day. In Gym we weren't really doing much since it was so close to exams.

"I'm sorry, Robyn. I'm at work. You'll have to ask Zoey," was Alustriel's answer.

Two attempted calls later, Zoey picked up. "What's wrong?"

Funny how she seemed to sense that something was amiss before I even said a word. "Can you come get me?"

"You realize you have a car, right?"

"Yeah, but Blaze asked if she could borrow it. Remember? She has a club meeting today and her mom can't pick her up."

"Crap. I forgot. Um… let me check on Tails first, okay?"

Tails has been forced to stay home due to an alarming fever and a nasty cough. "Okay."

A few minutes passed. Finally she got back on the phone. "I'll be there in a little while."

In Zoey terms, that meant anywhere from fifteen to twenty minutes. Half an hour at most. "Thanks, Zoe."

I walked to my locker and started putting my stuff away. The bell rang, indicating the end of sixth period. Students began filling the hallway, and then Blaze tapped me on the shoulder. "Everything okay?"

"It was, and now it's not. Zoey is coming to pick me up," I said as I closed my locker.

Blaze looked concerned. "Does it have to do with Chaos?"

"... Why do you ask?"

"When he came back to class, he looked really mad."

I sighed. "I don't know exactly why he's mad. I thought it was because I kinda ditched him over the weekend, but apparently there's more to it."

"Hm… that's odd. I'm sorry."

"Me too."

"Oh, is it still okay if I borrow your car?"

"Yeah, it's okay. Just bring it over when you're done."

Brief pause. "Would it also be okay if I crashed at your place tonight?"

"Sure! You know the door's always open."

Blaze smiled as I handed her the keys. "Thanks. I appreciate it."

"No problem. See ya later," I said.

She walked away with a wave. I turned down a different hallway to head to the office and then found Sonic standing in front of me. "Hey."

"Hey," I mumbled.

"... Is something wrong? Did the surprise go well?"

"Yeah, but now Chaos is mad at me... I don't understand why. So I'm going home."

"What reason would he have to be mad at you?" Sonic asked with a frown.

"I thought it was because of Friday, but I guess not," I sighed.

The blue hedgehog raised an eyebrow. "The tradition, I assume? Because you were with me all day?"

"Yeah."

He scowled. "Did you apologize to him?"

"Yeah... I told him that your family wanted to meet me and he kinda blew me off."

"Hmph. He's being a jerk, if you ask me. A possessive jerk."

I eyed him sharply. "He's still my best friend."

"Robyn if he was really your best friend, he would be willing to hear you out and be more understanding that you didn't mean to break the tradition. Instead he's acting like it's the end of the world that you weren't there with him."

I felt even more conflicted, and that was making my headache worse. "I don't know, Sonic. He did just lose his sister."

"... Okay, fair enough."

"I'll try talking to him again. I'll text you."

"All right."

I walked off. I dug my earbuds out of my pocket and plugged them into my iPod, turning on my music as I did so. Heading into the office, I signed myself out and waved to the receptionist who was coming out of the principal's office. She gave me a smile before I walked out to wait for Zoey.

**-XxXxX-**

Tails was on the couch when Zoey and I walked in the front door. "Hey sis."

He sounded awful. His voice was raspy and almost gone. He also looked pretty bad; his eyes were red around the edges and his fur was all poofed up. My heart went out to my little brother. "Hey Tails."

"Sweetie, did you finish that soup?" Zoey was in motherly mode.

"Yeah. It was good, Zoe."

She emerged from the kitchen with a tray containing another bowl of soup, a glass of water some orange slices, and a tiny measuring cup of medicine (like the ones found on bottles of Dayquil). "Take the medicine."

My brother did so, wincing at the taste. "Ick."

Zoey chuckled as she headed upstairs. I tossed my bag on the opposite couch and sat at the kitchen table, putting my head down. I heard some shuffling. "You're home early."

"Yeah. Stress headache."

"Sonic just texted me about it."

Well then. "Oh..."

He coughed, took a long drink of water, and then coughed again. "If I had to make a guess, Chaos probably feels abandoned."

"Abandoned? Why?" I asked.

"Well you two really haven't hung out in a while. You're always with Sonic."

I pondered this for a minute. "Well... why hasn't he said anything?"

"He's tried, Robyn. Along with that he's also had to take care of Maria. She was getting worse over the past couple of weeks. When he needed someone to comfort him, you weren't there. He came to me and Zoey," Tails said.

Oh no... I put a hand to my mouth. "Sweet Chaos above..."

Guilt washed over me. No wonder he was angry with me- I had been an awful friend. Sonic's earlier words about Chaos were moot now. "I have to make it up to him somehow."

"Any ideas?" Zoey was standing at the foot of the stairs.

"I'm open to suggestions," I said.

Tails chewed on an orange slice. "Maybe you can invite him over tonight?"

"Blaze is coming over," Zoey said, remembering what I had told her in the car about Blaze needing to stay the night.

"Ummm... hmm..." Tails mulled it over. "Tomorrow, then?"

I nodded. "I'll ask Shadow to keep him occupied."

My phone buzzed. It was a message from Blaze.

**Blaze: Hey. Meeting canceled. Will see you in a bit.**

**Robyn: Okay!**

**Blaze: Any luck with Chaos yet?**

**Robyn: No, but I'm working on it.**

**Blaze: Okie :]**

"Hungry?"

I looked up to see Zoey offering me some soup. I eyed it warily- Zoey wasn't exactly the best cook around. "Tails, how was it?"

"I thought it was pretty good. It's chicken noodle," he answered.

"Okay. I'll take some," I decided.

Zoey placed the bowl in front of me. There was a little steam so I knew it was warm. I took a cautious bite... and then beamed at my sister. "It's good!"

Zoey clapped gleefully. "Alussie recommended a website to me this morning."

I devoured the soup. It seemed to clear my headache a bit. Zoey then handed me a couple of Tylenol pills and I washed them down with a water bottle from the fridge. She ruffled my hair affectionately. "Feeling better?"

"Somewhat, yeah. The Tylenol is slowly kicking in."

A knock sounded at the door. I got up to answer it, smiling when I saw Blaze. "You made it."

She chuckled. "All in one piece."

She handed me my keys and smiled sympathetically at Tails. "How are you feeling?"

"Terrible," he responded.

The cat winced. "Oof. You sound like it."

"My fever has slowly gone down, but I ache everywhere." Tails took another sip of water. "Water tastes like absolute heaven."

"I bet. Hey, Zoey."

"Hi Blaze! You're here early."

"My meeting was canceled."

"Ah, okay. Are you hungry? We have soup."

"No, thank you. I had a snack on my way here."

She looked at me. "So, any ideas about Chaos?"

"I'm inviting him over tomorrow to hang out," I said.

She blinked at me in confusion. "He's not going to be around tomorrow."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"He and Shadow are going to visit some friends with Nina," she said.

"Oh." I felt a wave of disappointment. "He didn't tell me that."

She smiled sumpatheitcally. "He probably forgot."

"Yeah... maybe."

"Come on. Let's go chill upstairs."

We headed upstairs to my room. I flopped on the bed while Blaze sat at my desk. "Tired?"

"Just feeling lazy," I said.

She chuckled. "I understand that. Coming back from break is a drag."

"I knoooooow! I wish we were on Winter break already," I said.

"Ditto..."

We were quiet for a moment or two before Blaze spoke. "How's the money-gathering coming along for that bracelet you told me about?"

"Alustriel said if I work really hard until break, she'll give me the money for it on the last day of mid-terms and I can go get it when I'm finished," I grinned.

"That's awesome!" Blaze said excitedly.

My grin widened as I thought about the bracelet. "I wish I had taken a picture of it. It's so pretty."

"From the way you described it, it sounded beautiful," Blaze said.

"I still can't believe I lucked out with it. I'm going to get a legit diamond bracelet for almost a thousand dollars off!" I squealed.

She grinned at me. "I'm happy for you. Oh, speaking of good news... I have something to tell you."

I stared at her. "Did you and Silver finally get together?!"

"..." She swatted at me. "No! Why do you insist on asking that?"

"Um, because he's head over heels for you," I retorted.

"Gee. Who does that make me think of?" she quipped.

"Oi. Not the point," I protested.

She shook her head knowingly at me. "Whatever. Anyway... I haven't told anyone yet except for my family."

I poked her. "Well, don't keep me in suspense. What is it?"

"I got accepted into Angel Island University's writing program!" she exclaimed.

I pretty much screamed and hugged her. "That's awesome! Congratulations!"

"Thank you! I'm still in shock," Blaze said.

"I don't doubt it! They have the best writing program around here!" I said excitedly.

For the next forty-five minutes, we talked about college and our dreams after high school. I still wasn't sure where I wanted to go or what I wanted to do. I was torn between being a writer like Blaze or going into music. Blaze told me to follow my gut, which didn't really help me. We decided to browse a few colleges online that were close to home and wouldn't break the college fund that Mom and Dad had left behind for me.

Eventually I heard the front door open. Footsteps echoed in the hallway and then Alustriel poked her head in. "You okay?"

"I'm fine now. We're looking at colleges for me. Blaze got accepted at AIU," I said as Blaze gave her a wave.

"That's great, Blaze! Congrats!" my sister said.

"Thanks Ace," the cat beamed.

"Ace, where did you go for college?" I asked curiously.

"I went to Mystic Ruins University for a major in medicine and a minor in electrical engineering," she said.

This was news to me. "You didn't reverse them? I thought you majored in electrical engineering."

"I almost did. Then I volunteered at the student health center on campus and fell in love with the job. So I went to my counselor and asked if I could switch," she explained.

"Huh... that explains how you know so much about illnesses whenever we get sick," I said.

She chuckled. "You know how I've been working a lot of hours lately?"

"... Yeah?"

"It's actually because of my second job."

"Oh?"

"I became a doctor at Station Square Hospital."

She said it so casually that I thought she was joking. "What?"

"Yeah. That's why I've been gone so much," she said.

My eyes widened. "So you're a doctor and a mechanic?"

"I've had to cut back on my hours at the shop, but yes."

"Ace... how are you functioning right now?" Blaze demanded

She actually laughed. "Lots of coffee and sleeping when I can. I'm off tonight from both jobs, so I'm going to bed."

"Okay... night..." I murmured.

She closed the door. As soon as her footsteps faded, I turned to Blaze. "Well that was a bombshell."

"She never told you?"

"Nope. I don't think Tails or Zoey know either."

"Wow..."

I shook my head. "It would explain how they manage to afford everything. Zoey doesn't make a huge amount at the beauty salon."

Blaze looked thoughtful. "Huh."

"Hey, you two! Are you hungry?"

We both jumped as Zoey opened the door. "Uh... yeah," Blaze said.

"Ace ordered pizza when she left work. It just got here," Zoey said.

"Ooh, pizza!" I jumped to my feet. "Come on, Blaze!"

**-XxXxX-**

The next few days seemed to drag on. The teachers were starting to pile on the homework, projects, and a bunch of other stuff. The gang rarely saw each other during those few days, especially with Chaos and Shadow being gone. I only saw a few people during different classes, and I saw Kelly after school when Xavier picked her up. The only good news along the way was that the annual Winter Ball was going to happen the day after mid-terms. It was a big tradition at Chaos High, one that had been around since the first year the school was open.

Finally, Friday arrived. As soon as the last bell rang, I bolted. Chaos was supposed to be coming home that evening and I wanted to be there when he pulled into the driveway. I had texted Shadow the day before telling him about my plan and he agreed to help me. I waved to everyone before I got to my car. I nearly sped like a demon out of hell trying to get home.

When I got home, I parked in the garage. Alustriel and Zoey were both at work and Tails was studying with some of his AP friends at the library. I ran upstairs to my room and found a present from Zoey on my bed. She had pulled some strings and gotten a best friend keychain personalized for me to give to Chaos. It was a piano with our initials engraved on it. On the back it had a very short message from me: _Best friends forever, no matter what._ I smiled, excited to give it to him.

Suddenly the doorbell rang. I frowned as I put the keychain in the pocket of my jeans and went downstairs to answer. To my surprise I found Sonic on my doorstep looking anxious. "Hey."

"Hey. What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I... um... I needed to talk to you," he stammered.

"About what?"

"Oh gosh. Um..." He paced back and forth. "Well..."

"You look like you're about to freak out. Come on, spill it."

"Okay, okay... Robyn..."

He looked me in the eye and pulled out a rose from behind him. "Will you... will you go to the Winter Ball with me?"


End file.
